The Fallen Angel
by KnightEstoc
Summary: Driven by a tireless need for revenge, he takes retribution too far. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; he just wants to see killers burn. But some people believe that not everyone that kills is evil... Are they right, or is he - having given in to the depths of despair and hatred - beyond return?
1. Prologue

**Floor 35: March 14th, 2024**

* * *

"Hey, man, have you heard?" one player asked me. "There's this crazy guy going around killing PKers."

I frowned. "Sounds a bit ironic, don't you think? A Player Killer Killer." I snorted. "And how does he even find the PKers?" Outlaw players were, for fairly obvious reasons, pretty hard to find. "Seems like a hard sell to me."

The player I was talking to looked around furtively, as if he'd somehow summon the guy by mentioning him. "No, it's legit. The guy's called the Fallen Angel. Rumor has it he used to be part of one of the bigger guilds, a real big-shot. Then something happened and he started killing. According to the rumors, he's got these four green players called the Four Horsemen that go into town, buy information and supplies, and then the five of them hunt down and kill any PKers."

I nodded. "He uses Lures, huh." A common tactic; the green players acted as the orange's proxies, since being orange meant you couldn't enter a town. "Are you worried about him?"

"Nah," the player said with a wave. "I mean, I'm green. Just a blacksmith. Sure, he might be going after PKers, but that's like half the people here. If he was here, he probably wouldn't attack."

Oh, right. I haven't mentioned where I was.

I was at a monthly gathering of orange players; the criminal scum of this world. This world, of course, being Aincrad. I had been one of the 10,000 that managed to snag a copy of Sword Art Online, one of the most anticipated games this side of the decade. My girlfriend had managed to get another one, and we FullDove into the game together, fully intending to have a great time. I'd even asked a classmate to take notes for me during the week I was going to skip classes.

If you're going to game hard, game _hard_.

Anyway, the two of us turned on the game and adventured for a couple hours. Until everything changed. Turned out this game was a gigantic mouse trap and the 10,000 players were the poor little mice. Akihiko Kayaba, the crazy guy that made this game, had planned everything; we couldn't log out of Sword Art Online until we beat all hundred floors. The kicker was, if you died in the game you died in real life.

So the game had this nice little system of telling you who was a player and who wasn't. Every player had a cursor above their heads - so did every enemy, but that's not really all that important. Player cursors came in two different colors, green and orange. Green meant you were a sterling, upstanding citizen of the world of Aincrad, while orange meant that you were a no-good, rotten, piece of scum that deserved to be wiped out. Attacking or killing an orange player wasn't considered a crime, so the oh-so-virtuous green players didn't become orange themselves for murdering the poor bastard.

Fine, maybe I'm a bit bitter about the whole thing. So sue me.

Anyway, orange players didn't have most of the rights that green players did, like being able to go into towns, so merchants and blacksmiths looking to make a quick profit threw together this little meeting every month. It always took place on a different floor each time, so that the players stuck on different floors didn't have to travel too far to restock. I had managed to stumble into the meeting while exploring, and was promptly threatened with death if I ever mentioned it to the big floor-clearing guilds.

They - the guilds, I mean - had this _thing_ about orange players, you know? If they caught an orange guy in the open, his lifespan was usually counted in minutes.

So I promised not to tell and they let me wander around, the players eyeing me the whole time. I didn't mind; it was in their nature to be untrustworthy. But this one heavier guy decided to throw caution to the wind and started a conversation with me, and here we are.

"Too many people willing to beat the crap out of him, I guess," I said with a laugh. "Yeah, only an idiot would attack this place. If he could even find it."

My companion chuckled. "Yeah. This meeting's pretty much word of mouth. The merchants decide where it's gonna be, they spread it to their contacts, their contacts spread it to their contacts, and everyone keeps quiet about the whole deal."

We were wandering a bit during our conversation, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My brown hair fell haphazardly over my face, and I quickly looked away; that wasn't the look I had chosen for myself. Kayaba had included a 'gift', to use his words, for everyone in the game that changed their appearance to match their real-world appearance. Some computer wizardry with the NerveGear helmet or something. Everything from my brown hair and grey eyes to the scar on my left hand from when I was a kid had been copied over. That meant, of course, that the grey sleeveless shirt I was wearing didn't really flatter me, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

I liked my black pants, though. They were nice.

"So, the Four Horsemen, and they're lead by the Fallen Angel, huh?" I mumbled to myself. "Sounds...neat, I guess."

"The Horsemen showed up a while after he started getting around," the guy said. "He left one Lure alive just so she could spread the tale and everything. From what I can tell, the guy's a psycho; he killed everyone there himself, even when they had surrendered."

I shrugged. "Whatever gets him his jollies, I guess. I think I'll be safe, though."

"Meh, whatever. Not like it pays to care about people in this death game."

I grinned. "Heh, you've got a point." I chuckled. "You know, this meeting thing isn't so bad. You mind giving me a shout when the next one pops up?"

He shrugged. "Whatever." I took that to be a yes.

"I'm gonna go buy a few things before I leave. No sense in wasting a perfectly good opportunity, right?"

"Check me out if you want your gear upgraded." He swiped open his menu and offered a friend request. After a moment's hesitation, I accepted. The guy - Lucien, according to the game menu - didn't even glance at my name; it seemed like he took his stance on not caring about others pretty seriously. "Better get back to my stall. Some orange's probably waiting to get their sword upgraded."

I waved as he left. "Later." I wandered away, following a small slow-flowing river. I kicked a rock or two around, seeing how long I could keep it in front of me. All in all, the picture of a nonchalant player with not a care in the world.

What a joke. I just didn't want to be around when he finally looked at my name.

After I put enough distance between me and the orange gathering, I swiped open my menu and tapped a few buttons. The cloak I had deliberately avoided wearing fell around my shoulders, and I swapped the sword strapped to my back for a long trident. I had to avoid wearing them; everyone there would have recognized me immediately. "Come on out," I called out. "I know you're there." Immediately, four players appeared, their forms shimmering into existence as they turned off their «Hiding» skills. I walked toward one of them. "Thanks for letting me borrow the sword and shield, Uri." I swiped open my menu and traded them the two weapons I had used for a disguise. "Well, looks like I'm in," I said.

Another figure stirred. "You should probably take one of us with you next time, Boss," they said.

I sighed. "Fine, one of you can come along. But only one, and it has to be the same one every month, alright?" I looked around at the four players surrounding me. "We were risking a hell of a lot just wandering into their midst like that. Even though you guys were hidden, if they found you we'd all be dead right now."

The same figure shrugged. "We'll decide in time for the next one. Just so long as you have someone there who knows how to fight with the weapon they have equipped."

I glared at them. "Look, it was hard enough not swearing at every one of those gods-forsaken murdering bastards, okay? I don't need to have the additional problem of explaining why my weapon of choice happens to match the one used exclusively by the Fallen Angel." I sniffed. "I thought my approach would work, and it did. So there."

One of the other figures shrugged. "I liked the line about you having nothing to fear, but I thought we were gonna get in trouble when you friended that guy. What were you thinking, Boss?"

"That we needed an in, and that now we have one." I replied. "Besides, he's right. He's just a blacksmith, after all." My eyes gleamed. "He's got nothing to fear from me."

Oh yeah, that's right. I should have mentioned.

_I'm_ the Fallen Angel.

* * *

**Heya.**

**Stuff about this story:**

**-First person point of view. It's also going to be pretty in a pretty informal tone of voice; just think of it like he's telling you a story.**

**-It's not part of the 'Nightblade' universe.**

**-This is not a self-insert.**

**-This one's gonna be more OC-centric, with canon characters playing relatively limited roles – with only occasional exceptions. **

**Hope y'all enjoy! I'm going to be having plenty of fun writing this one.**

**Remember, leaving a review is good manners - if you didn't like it, tell me why and I can do better; if you did like it, tell me why and I can do more of that.**


	2. Wild Hunt

**Floor 68: July 31st, 2024**

* * *

It's kinda amazing, the trite and irrelevant thoughts that run through a person's head at the weirdest times.

Even I'm not immune to that. I mean, I raced through the green forest at near-breakneck speeds, and the first thought that came to mind was _I wonder if Kayaba added caterpillars_.

Look, I never said I was super articulate or anything, okay? I happen to like caterpillars.

Anyway, I was racing through the forest, weaving back and forth to avoid tripping. I jumped over one tree root that was particularly obstructive, clearing it with ease. I landed on my feet with a light thump, my cloak rustling with the landing. I grinned slightly, pleased with my performance. Only a year ago, I would have probably tripped and landed flat on my face.

From behind me, I heard the crashing and rattling of a figure in heavy armor tripping and landing flat on their face. I closed my eyes and sighed, coming to a stop. "Damn it, Gain..." I turned, knowing what I'd see.

A male player in heavy plate armor was pushing himself to his feet. The large tower shield on his back lent to the absurd image of a turtle trying to stand upright; however, that tower shield had saved my life before, so I couldn't complain. Much. Once he had finished picking himself up, he rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry, Boss..." That was Gainriel for you. Always doing his best, always cheerful, and always tripping over something. But when he was in a fight, he was rock solid. Bastard knew it, too, and he knew that I'd forgive him.

"What's the hold up?" Another voice called out as a lithe figure snaked toward our position from the left. "I heard the crash." He wore dark leather armor with a metal breastplate, suiting the large axe slung across his back. Sometimes I wondered how he managed to lift the damn thing, but he was the best fighter we had.

I shook my head. "Nothing you need to worry about, Mao. Gain managed to trip over his feet again."

Gainriel frowned with good humor. "Hey now, that root attacked me out of nowhere, Boss."

Maotaro grinned at him. "Your head's thick enough, Gain. There shouldn't be any lasting damage." He turned back to face the way he came. "You two might want to hurry up, though. I think Raph's already in position, and Uri can't be too far behind him."

I nodded. "Right. Get going." He took off, melting into the tree line. I watched him disappear and turned to Gainriel. "You good to go?"

"Let's move, Boss," he replied. We took off running forward again. I just hoped that Gain would follow my lead and not fall over again. We were racing the clock with a strict time limit, and we had already delayed more than I would have preferred.

Eventually, the trees started thinning out slightly. As soon as I noticed this, I took one more step to plant my feet, and then jumped up into the trees. Gainriel kept thundering along as I jumped from branch to branch, keeping pace with him. We had practiced this strategy before; we would surround our target and then ambush from all five points. Unfortunately, we couldn't dig through the earth, or we'd try for the sixth attack direction.

Of course, that would require a sixth member of our party.

My choice of footholds dwindled until there were none left. From my vantage point, I could see into a clearing. I pulled the hood of my cloak up over my head and activated my «Hiding» skill; the cloak gave the same passive bonus to my skill level regardless of the hood's position, but it was like a safety blanket for me. I just felt better with it over my head when I was trying to hide. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the black feathers - the material the cloak was made of - fade away until there was nothing there except a small shimmer in the air only visible to my eyes. My «Hiding» skill was mastered, and with the bonus the cloak granted me it would take a «Searching» skill of well over 900 to find me.

I was good at hiding.

I activated my own «Searching» skill - only 284, more's the pity, but it gave me what I wanted. I searched the edges of the clearing, picking out the four green cursors of my party members. They were all in position, and I grinned; our target didn't stand a chance. I turned my attention to the figures in the center of the clearing - the goal of our hunt. The hinds to our hounds.

There was one player lying on the ground, a sword and shield near their prone armored form; by the looks of the armor, they were part of a small guild, that being the only explanation for that shade of green. Their cursor was a matching green, and I narrowed my eyes. Three other players surrounded them, each with a drawn weapon. I counted two sword users and a knife wielder; their cursors were a sullen orange color.

One other player was standing on the edge of the clearing, a sheathed longsword on her back. Her arms were folded and she watched passively, clearly not going to interfere. Her cursor color was green, and I nodded to myself; a Lure. She had probably tricked the target player to this clearing where the orange players were lying in wait. She was kinda pretty, though, and her outfit definitely showed off her best features.

A proper gentleman always takes time to admire a lady. An improper gentleman also takes time to wolf whistle and ask for her number, but I didn't do that. Obviously.

Okay, fine, so maybe it was because I didn't want to blow my cover.

One of the sword users raised their sword. "Die, bitch!" Oh, good. That was an intro line if I'd ever heard one.

I reached behind me and pulled my weapon of choice out from its sling. I hefted it in one hand, bringing it up and drawing back. It started glowing blue and I launched it forward. It streaked toward the player about to attack the helpless green player, slamming into their back and piercing through them. It lodged into the ground, forcing the player forward slightly and pinning them.

The sword user next to my target jerked back with shock and swore. "What the hell? Where'd that trident come from?"

My weapon of choice happened to be a trident. I was good with it. I'd had plenty of practice.

Of course, that particular attack was the signal for the rest of my team. Gain led the charge from the west - his armored form combined with the large tower shield usually caught the attention of whoever we were attacking. While they were distracted, Raphile came in behind them and started laying waste with his wicked knife. Maotaro stormed in from the south at that point, axe drawn and ready, while Uriyama came in from the north and rescued the helpless green player. Their positions on the cardinal points were fixed, though their actions were based on our opponent's positions.

As for me, I jumped down and made my way toward my trident, sticking to the edges of the battle. I had a small knife that I could use to defend myself, but I wasn't really all that good with it and preferred my trident. I skulked to the pinned player; Uriyama was standing in front of them, guarding the green player. I pulled back my hood and turned off my «Hiding» skill. I grinned at Uriyama. "Good job, Uri."

Uriyama was the sword wielder in our group; with warm brown eyes and long brown hair, she was pretty attractive. I hadn't tried anything because I knew she was quick with the sword she normally kept on her hip; while body parts grew back after a bit, I didn't want to spend the time missing my favorite part. She flushed at my praise and smiled back. "Thanks, Boss. Do you want me to join the others?"

I glanced over the battleground. Raphile and Maotaro were double-teaming the knife user, while Gain kept the other orange sword wielder busy. "Raph and Mao look they have things under control, but I think Gain could use some help." The big guy just wasn't all that good at fighting, really. He was a magnificent tank, but when it came to the offensive he lacked the drive. Uri nodded and rushed over his way, drawing her sword and shield as she went.

I turned to the pinned player, and I felt the hate rising inside of me. "Player killing bastard," I spat. Without any other warning, I drew my knife and stabbed him in the back, driving the blade through his neck. I sheathed the knife and grabbed my trident as his lifeless body shimmered and burst into the blue polygons. I glanced beside me and kicked the shield on the ground back near the downed green player. "Protect yourself," I called out.

No reason to come off as the bad guy, right?

It turned out I wasn't needed in taking out the others. Mao and Raph had managed to pin the knife user, and Uri was handling the sword wielder. I turned to the Lure on the edge of the field; her face showed some real fear now. I approached with a grim expression and her eyes widened. She quickly tried to fake relief. "Oh, thank you for saving me!"

I sighed. "Shut up." I leveled my trident at her. "I know what you are, and you disgust me just as much as the player killers do."

"I'm green! You can't do anything to me without turning orange," she cried.

I looked at her thin leather armor and then at my trident. The serrated tongs led to a shaft of dark wood. The charred-appearing wood had strange runes carved on it that smoldered with a dull red light, as though the inside of the shaft was still burning slightly. "You really aren't that observant, are you?" I asked her. Without waiting for an answer, I thrust forward, stabbing her in the stomach.

She looked down at the weapon piercing her body, clutching at it as if that would save her life. Eventually, her fingers stopped moving and her body burst into blue polygons - the look on her face was almost surprise. I turned back to the other two orange players; they were lying on the ground, defeated. I nodded to my team. "Good work, everyone." I strode over to the pinned knife user and unceremoniously ended his life with my trident, spearing him through the chest. Before his polygons had even disappeared, I had done the same to the sword user Uri had held at swordpoint. As they died, I felt the hate I held for them die down again. "I hate player killers. Oh well. That's four less of the bastards in this world."

My team sheathed their weapons, no longer needed now that we had found and killed our targets. Putting the trident back in the sling on my back, I turned to the green player that we had saved. While I was busy slaughtering the player killers, they had managed to recover their sword. And, apparently, remove their helmet. I could now assign a gender to the player.

And fuck me if she wasn't attractive. Look, blonde hair and green eyes are pretty rare in Aincrad, okay?

Uri noticed the stares of everyone with a Y chromosome - that is, everyone except her - and sighed. "Oh, honestly, boys. All the PKers would have to do is send in one Lure with a pretty face and you'd all be dead." It was a common complaint of hers, and we bore it with good grace and the ease of repetition. She walked over to me and gently pushed my jaw up until my mouth was closed. "You're drooling, Boss."

I grinned at her. "Jealous?" She grinned in reply, not saying anything. I shook myself and walked over to the fallen player. "Are you alright?"

She shrank back slightly. "Are you going to kill me now? Is that why you killed them? To get the reward for yourself?"

Oh, maybe I hadn't mentioned. My cursor was orange, too.

I growled under my breath. "Raph, take over, please. She doesn't trust me."

He walked over with a knowing grin. "Must be your face, Boss." I snarled at him and walked away, giving him space to work his magic. With short dark hair and a ready grin, Raphile was probably the nicest person on our team - at least, when we weren't in battle. He was pretty good at monitoring our conditions both in and out of battle; when he told one of us to rest, we didn't argue. Using the alchemical skills I had picked up along the way, I taught him how to mix medicines - of course, I used those skills for something else. He was pretty good at taking care of us; I had heard Gain call him the team mom once, and it was pretty close to his actual position with us. Of course, I never mentioned it to his face. He knew how to use that knife.

Eventually, we got the full story out of the rescued green player. Her name was Serra (pronounced 'Serra, like stair without the T and an extra A' as she emphatically insisted) and she was part of a small guild. When I say small, I'm talking like 5 people max. Basically, it was a group of friends that stayed in a consistent party and figured they'd have a little icon next to their name. Pretty much what my team was, only they'd taken the extra step and actually created the guild. Apparently, the guild had been called The Sad Clowns.

It's okay to laugh. I did.

And I asked about the green armor. Apparently that was her favorite color. She might have looks, but she was definitely lacking in taste. Don't get me wrong - I like green, just not enough to have it be my main armor color. Now black, on the other hand...

Anyway, the emphasis on the guild name falls squarely on 'had'. Turns out, the rest of her guild had been caught off guard by the PKers and had been slaughtered. I was about to ask what they were doing on the 68th Floor if they were that weak when Raph turned and glared at me. I grimaced and looked away; sometimes, it was scary the way he knew what I was about to say.

After Serra had finished telling her story, she looked around. "So, what's you guys's deal? I mean, why are you four traveling with him?" She gestured over at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Question time is over." She didn't need to know our deal. I turned to my partners. "Alright. You guys should probably get going to the front lines."

Serra looked at me. "Why the front lines?"

I glanced at her. "That's where the info brokers are, obviously." I looked at her. "Do you have any warp crystals?" She shook her head and I sighed. "Of course not." I looked over at my teammates; they were huddled up. Probably discussing who was going to accompany me. "All four of you go. I'll be fine. I need to accompany our new friend to the nearest town anyway, so I don't need an escort."

Mao glanced at me. "You sure, Boss?" His gaze shifted slightly and focused on Serra. "I mean, traveling with her isn't so bad, but will you be okay through the Labyrinth?"

I shrugged. "I can haul ass when I need to. Plus, my «Hiding» is maxed. You know that." He raised his hands in defeat and the four pulled out warp crystals. Calling out the name of the main town on the 70th Floor, they each disappeared in a flash of light. Apparently, some jokers had used warp crystals to pretend to be PKed in a safe zone.

Like I said earlier. Trite and irrelevant.

Serra looked at me after the glow from the warp crystals faded. "What about you?"

I stared at her. "Orange, remember? I can't use warp crystals or gates, or enter towns." She flushed. "C'mon, let's get going. I want to be up on the next floor by tomorrow evening, and we're wasting daylight." Not really waiting for her to catch up, I started making my way through the forest. If I remembered the way correctly, it was to the east.

The faint sound of plants scraping against armor told me that Serra had followed me out of the clearing and through the brush. After a few seconds, she caught up to me and was walking beside me. "So, what's the deal? I don't even know your name, let alone your age or your level."

I stumbled slightly. She was nosy for someone who had been terrified of me just a bit earlier. "The name's Asmodeus. Level 82." I hesitated a second before deciding what the hell. "I'm 20." Serra stopped, stunned, and I turned back after a few steps to look at her. "Something wrong?"

"Asmodeus? _The_ Asmodeus? _The Fallen Angel _Asmodeus?"

I sighed. "Surprise, it's me." Did she think I'd be taller or have blood pouring from my eyes or something?

"B-but, you're a legendary killer! They say you used to be-" There was real fear in her eyes.

"I know what they say about me," I snarled. "I don't want to hear it again." I continued walking. After a few seconds, I glanced over my shoulder to see her still standing there, motionless. "C'mon, let's go. Sometime today, please!" She shook herself and caught up to me.

After a brief moment of silence, she started talking again. "Fair's fair, I guess. My name's Serra." She flushed slightly. "But I guess you already know that. Anyway, I'm level 77 and 19 years old."

I looked at her. "What are you doing up on this floor if you're only level 77? It's a bit dangerous."

"Hey!" she cried. "I can handle myself, thank you very much!"

I raised a hand placatingly. "Alright, alright." I rolled my eyes. Her mood had shifted immediately and for no real reason. I just chalked it up to nervousness, what with being next to a famous killer and all that.

I hated those rumors. Even though they were true.

We walked in relative silence for a bit. Finally, Serra broke the silence again. "So, why were you guys down on this floor?"

"Hunting," I replied. "We've been tracking that gang of player killers that attacked you for a while now."

She looked at me. "That sounds interesting."

I shrugged slightly. "Eh. Bastards deserve to die. I'm just delivering their retribution." Despite my best attempts, the last word came out in an angry growl.

"Wow," Serra said. "Someone got up on the wrong side of bed this morning. How come you're so angry about it?"

I glared at her. "Because they ask nosy questions. Now shut it."

"Jeez, I'm just asking..." Serra frowned, but dropped the subject as I requested. Of course, that meant she started up on a different track. "So do you think you could help me out a bit?"

Her moods were swinging faster than Mao's axe. It would be interesting to watch, if I didn't have to deal with it myself. Must be a female thing. "Help you out how?" I gestured to the forest around us. "I'm already escorting you to the nearest town."

"Can I join your group?" she asked.

I could lie and say I didn't trip on my next step in shock. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

I glanced at her, taking my next step perfectly and totally not tripping in surprise. Then I brushed myself off for no reason at all. Totally smooth. "What? Why the hell do you want to join us?"

"Because..." She looked away. "...the rest of my guild..."

I sighed. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to join up with us." I snickered. "Besides, you need to be good at fighting to help out."

Immediately, her expression changed from depressed to infuriated. "I am perfectly capable of defending myself."

Like I said. Female thing.

I snorted. "And you got disarmed by those PKers. From where I'm standing, it's not exactly a great resumé."

"Oh, shut up," she grumbled.

I thought about it for a second - if she did join our team, we'd have to train her. That could be a pain, especially if she was going to have mood swings like that. She turned her head and grinned at me, and I sighed. Looked like her natural mood was happiness, though she shifted quickly. Joy.

We walked in silence for a bit, thankfully avoiding the attention of monsters. I usually had one of my team members with me when we were changing floors; we would guard each other's back and take turns on night watch. I couldn't trust Serra just yet; I didn't know just how good she was with a sword, and I didn't want to risk my life on an unknown. For that matter, she probably couldn't trust me. After all, I was Asmodeus, the Fallen Angel, one of the most ruthless killers in Aincrad. That's what the info brokers said about me, anyway.

And they never focused their rumors on my winning smile. Jeez, talk about getting shafted in the PR department.

Walking on autopilot, I didn't notice until we had arrived that the entrance to the Labyrinth was getting closer and closer. I stared at the stone doorway in dismay. "Crap."

Look, I never said I was good with directions, okay? I'm a guy. My idea of finding my way is wandering around for forty-five minutes. Uri usually handled the maps.

"This doesn't look like a town," Serra said. I glared at her to find she was hiding a smile, with only a trace of success.

"Oh, shut up," I snapped. I strode toward the entrance of the Labyrinth, but didn't enter. Instead, I found a small opening to the side and sat down on a log there. Serra followed me, confused. "Well? It's getting late, and I'm tired. I'm not tackling the Labyrinth with you when I'm not at my best," I grumbled. I didn't want to tackle the Labyrinth with her at all, but it didn't look like I had much of a choice.

"Oh," Serra replied. "Okay. Can we do some training before we eat dinner?"

I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I told myself that she was just stubborn and that I shouldn't kill people because they annoyed me. Even though I could. I opened my eyes. "Sure. Whatever." Serra beamed when I said yes and went over to the clearing in front of the Labyrinth. She drew her sword and started swinging it around a bit; I could tell she knew how to use it, so she wasn't a rank amateur at least. However, her strikes were a little weak and wild, explaining how she managed to get disarmed by the PKers so easily.

She caught me watching her, and swung her sword one last time. "Well?"

I sighed and stood up, drawing my trident from its sling. "We'll start slow." I knew how to fight monsters, but when my team and I did that I usually acted as backup, picking at the monsters from behind safe lines. When it came to fighting other players, though, I was ruthless. I needed to go slowly with Serra, or I might actually hurt her by accident. I swiped open my menu and requested a duel with her; she accepted, setting it at half loss. That meant the loser would be the one that hit yellow first; it also meant that when the duel was over our health would be restored to the point it was at before the duel. Neither of us was in real danger.

Safety first, kids.

I leveled the trident at her. "Well? Show me what you've got."

Shouting a war cry, Serra charged me, sword glowing a pale blue. I braced myself and prepared to thrust, my trident glowing a brilliant emerald green. The two weapons collided, the sword caught between two of the tongs on the trident. I took a step forward, pressing on the sword. My longer weapon gave me better leverage and I forced Serra back step by step. She growled and brought her shield up to press against the trident. Using her full strength, she managed to match and even beat my strength. After all, sword users usually had higher strength stats than polearm users. I took a step back, then another. I planted my feet apart, bracing myself. With a surge of strength I forced Serra's sword to the side and she stumbled, suddenly thrown off balance by the sudden release in pressure.

As she passed me, I twisted my body and brought the end of the trident down on her back. Normally, that would have just been a blunt strike with the edge of the wood. But my trident was different; there was a small semicircle of metal that protruded from the end. It was sharp, which gave me two separate ends to fight with. It wasn't very large, but it was a good surprise for anyone who thought they could take me down easily if they got within the range of my trident. Serra cried out in pain and went sprawling on the ground. I didn't hesitate; I stabbed my trident into her leg. She gasped in pain, and I watched as her health turned yellow. As the duel ended, I put the trident back into its sling and walked back to the small camp.

"Where ya going?" Serra asked me, slightly out of breath. "Don't tell me you're done already."

I glanced at her over my shoulder. "I specialize in player versus player. I can't help you much with player versus enemy, and you're not good enough to challenge me in PVP." I pointed absently at the entrance to the Labyrinth. "We'll go in there tomorrow and get you some better experience."

Serra sighed and sheathed her sword. "You got it, Modeus."

I blinked at her in surprise. "Don't call me that," I growled. "My name is Asmodeus."

"Well, if I can't call you Modeus, what should I call you?" she asked me, apparently completely unaware I had told her already. Suddenly, her face lit up. "Oh, can I call you Azzy? Deus, maybe?"

I glared at her. "Asmodeus," I snarled.

"Smod? Mo?"

She wasn't going to give up, so I sighed and relented. "...Call me Modeus."

She smiled. "You got it!"

Ugh. First the others insisted on calling me 'boss', and now Serra wants to call me Modeus. What's wrong with my name? I happen to like it.

Dinner was a bit of a surprise. I was going to just eat some jerky that I had picked up a while back - it wasn't very good, but it kept me alive. I had managed to get used to the tough texture and bland taste, so I didn't really mind it any more. So it was a shock when Serra shooed me away from the campfire and told me she was cooking dinner. I didn't complain - much - when I could smell what she was cooking. I wasn't sure where she had pulled that frying pan from or where she had stored the ingredients, but when she was finished making a meal I didn't ask questions. Serra had made a pretty delicious stew - it was better than the dried jerky I was planning on eating.

Once we were finished, night had fallen. I caught Serra yawning a bit, and I stood up. "Get some rest. I'll wake you up when it's your turn to take watch."

She rubbed at her eyes, obviously exhausted. "Aren't you tired?"

I stared off into the distance. "I prefer the first shift." If I slept when I was absolutely exhausted, I was too tired to remember my dreams. I hadn't had a full night's rest for quite some time; after all, sleeping in a soft warm bed was reserved for green players that could go to inns or own homes. There were some houses that were outside of the AREA, but there wasn't one big enough for me and my team. I didn't have enough money on my own to buy a house, and I couldn't ask the others to pitch in without letting them stay.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that Uri didn't sleep in a nightgown. Honest.

Serra didn't argue and went to sleep, her breathing quickly becoming regular. I banked the fire to avoid giving away our position, and moved over to sit against the stone wall of the Labyrinth. It was a wall against my back, at any rate, so I couldn't be attacked from behind. I drew up the hood and activated my «Hiding» skill, letting the cloak's feathers fade and blend in with the pale stone. I sat motionless, not making a sound as time passed slowly – normally I would have found a way to make the time pass by, but I didn't feel safe with only Serra to help me. I didn't want to attract unwanted attention; after all, «Hiding» only worked on vision. Things that hunted using their other senses could still find me.

Eventually, 1:00 AM rolled around. I stood up and stretched, letting my cloak shimmer back into existence. I walked over and shook Serra's shoulder. "Hey, wake up." I made sure to stay well away from her sword arm; she'd probably be confused when she woke up and I didn't want to be in her line of attack.

Sure enough, she sat up and immediately groped for her sword. I caught her hand before she could do more than bare an inch of steel and shook her again. She blinked blearily. "Mrrfl frssl guh?" Oh, the weird noises people made when they were woken up.

I sighed. "Your turn for watch. Wake me up at 6:00 if I'm not up by then." I had taken the long shift, leaving her only five hours. She'd be tired later, yeah, but she was already rested.

Instead of sleeping on the ground, I jumped into a tree. That precaution not being enough, I drew the cloak's hood over my head and watched the feathers fade away until the only things I could see were the branches I had wedged myself in. I wouldn't fall out, even if I tossed and turned in the night.

* * *

**Floor 68: August 1st, 2024**

Fortunately, I was tired enough that I didn't remember my dreams.

That small blessing, unfortunately, didn't stop me from waking up in a cold sweat around 5:30, and I sighed. I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, not with only thirty minutes before Serra would wake me. I glanced over to where she was keeping watch, gratified to see that she was still awake and looking around. I hadn't been sure she would manage to stay awake; after all, Gain had fallen asleep his first shift.

It's almost like the green players didn't have experience sleeping outside of the AREA.

I jumped out of the tree and landed carefully. As the cloak's effect dissipated, Serra blinked at me blearily. "Morning," she said with a yawn.

"Go get some more sleep. I'll wake you in an hour," I said. I needed her relatively awake for when we challenged the Labyrinth - a sleepy partner was a quickly dead partner, and I didn't have the skills to fight through monsters by myself. I could disappear when I needed to, but if the monster already knew I was there, I couldn't get away. Serra stumbled back to the comfort of the dream world, and I took up the final watch. I stretched, relaxing the tense muscles, and flexed my fingers. I was tired, but then again I'd gotten used to being tired. More than once Raph had told me to get more sleep, but it really wasn't helpful. I could rarely sleep more than four hours in a row without waking up.

I decided to give Serra an extra half hour to rest. I wasn't a jerk, after all. No matter what the rumors said.

At 7:00 on the dot, I shook her awake again. She didn't try to draw her sword this time, something I was gratefully for. I didn't really want to dodge a sleepy Sword Skill this early in the morning. Serra looked up at me with a yawn. "Morning. Time to go?" I nodded and she stood up. "Well then, let's go."

At least she was quick about it. I walked over to the entrance of the Labyrinth after smothering the fire and stood there, staring at it. I had already passed through it twice, and I wasn't looking forward to making a third trip. At least it was good grinding. "Since you have a sword and shield, you're taking forward. If you get in too much trouble, I'll flank and assist. Got it?"

Serra didn't argue; in fact, she was smiling. "Gotcha!"

I waved her forward into the Labyrinth. "Just try not to die." I didn't really want to go through the Labyrinth with her, but I had said I would accompany her to the nearest town. Right then, that was the town on the next floor. Damn my honor.

The Labyrinth itself was pretty quiet; some clearing team grinding for levels had probably gone through just the day before. The monsters were a little more sparse than I remembered. That meant that I got to sit back and watch as Serra struggled against them alone. I called out encouragement now and then, but I only had to help her out once.

It was a pretty big monster, actually. It looked a little like a living statue; its body was made out of the same pale stone as the walls of the Labyrinth, and it moved stiffly. That didn't stop it from being a danger, though, and Serra swiftly found herself in trouble. She glanced back at me as the gargoyle-looking thing gnawed at her shield. "A little help please?"

I sighed and grabbed my trident. "Bitch, moan, whine." I circled around her to start flanking the monster. "You're a front-liner. I shouldn't have to help out." The gargoyle hissed at me and I stabbed at it with my trident. "Oh, shut up."

Serra grunted. "If you're going to be like that, I don't want your help. I've killed more of these things than you have." The instant the gargoyle's attention was off her, she swung her sword, the sharp metal biting into the stone and sending a spray of rubble into the air. The gargoyle shrieked in pain, turning on her. That let me jab it in the side, bringing its attention back to me. Serra and I traded blows like that until the gargoyle finally crumbled into rubble before bursting into blue polygons. "Hah. I got the last hit in," Serra crowed triumphantly.

I didn't respond, only slinging my trident on my back. "C'mon. We're only on the twelfth floor of this place. Eight more to go."

Serra's shoulders slumped and she let out a huge sigh. "Slave driver..." she mumbled. She raced to catch up to me, falling in step.

We ran into trouble on the nineteenth floor of the Labyrinth. One instant we were walking down an empty corridor, and the next we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of small hissing gargoyles. I glanced at Serra, grabbing my trident and holding it ready. "We're going to have to make a break for it. They only spawn while we're in here, so we need to make it through the hall. They're weak, so one slash of your sword should kill them."

She grinned at me, unsheathing her sword. "Bet I can kill more than you."

I smirked. "You're on." I could never resist a challenge.

We turned and bolted as one, racing for the end of the hall. This trap had nearly caught me and Mao when we made our way through this the first time; fortunately, we managed to make it out alive that time. I decided that this time was going to be no different. A gargoyle threw itself at me and I cut it down with a single thrust. Stupid things really were weak. Another tried to tackle me from the side, and I slashed it with the end of my trident. The semicircle of blackened metal bit into its body, slicing the gargoyle in half. As more and more gargoyles started attacking simultaneously, my trident became a blur of motion, licking in and out again and again, always accompanied by blue polygons. With my trident, I could kill three gargoyles at a time, so I was never in much danger. Beside me, I could see that Serra was keeping pace with me, holding her own. She had improved quite a bit during our day in the Labyrinth - I knew that practice would help her out. She had even reached level 79.

I saw a small gap in the gargoyles and I threw myself forward, diving through the gap. I took a few cuts from the massed gargoyles, but my health was still in the green, so I was in no danger. I picked myself up, getting out of the way - a good thing, because Serra came rolling through the same opening a few seconds later. We had managed to make it out of the hallway. The gargoyles snarled, but slunk back to their little alcoves in the hall. I sat against the wall, panting. That was always a bad spot. Beside me, Serra was lying flat on her back, sword lying next to her. "I killed fifty," she managed to gasp out.

I grinned with tired cheer. "Fifty-five here." I smirked. "Guess I win."

"Not fair," she panted. "You kill three at once." I could only laugh weakly. There was always a sort of thrill when I put my life on the line, a certain rush of adrenaline that I couldn't get anywhere else.

I'm a danger junkie. What can I say.

The rest of the Labyrinth was thankfully uneventful. I hesitated slightly when we approached the open boss door, but fortunately it was empty. I knew it would be - it had been empty every other time, but there was always a small twisting in my stomach. What if something was different this time? I would be screwed; I couldn't solo a boss. Even with one of my party members by my side, I'd be stuck on the floor until some Clearers could come and kill it.

Serra and I emerged from the dark dungeon to be immediately blinded by the bright sunlight. Out of ingrained habit, I kept walking, just enough to get out of the way and get my back to a wall. I shaded my eyes and squinted, activating my «Searching» skill. As my vision turned green, I scanned the area for cursors nearby. I didn't see any, so either we were about to be ambushed by a group with good «Hiding» skills or we were alone. There wasn't anything I could do about the first, so I assumed it was the second and relaxed slightly.

Serra looked around, confused, until she saw me. "Why'd you move over there?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I don't want to be a target while my eyes adjust. Something you pick up when you've been hunted for a while." It might have been my imagination, but I thought she flinched slightly.

Way to go, Asmodeus, you're harassing people who ask intelligent questions, I thought to myself. What a guy.

I told my inner critic to shut up and gestured to the hills in front of us. "The nearest town should be pretty close. I don't know how far it will be, but I'll keep my word and accompany you there." And then she could leave and let me get on my way. I started walking, not waiting for her to catch up.

We were burning daylight and I wanted to be on the 70th Floor by the end of the week.

* * *

**Maybe Asmodeus isn't such a bad guy. I mean sure, he's a ruthless killer, a bit of a dick, and he's got plenty of anger issues... Actually, I take it back. He's a pretty bad guy.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed.**


	3. Pride and Prejudice

**Floor 69: August 1st, 2024**

* * *

Serra looked around, drinking in the sights. "Wow, this place is cool!"

I tried my best not to snap at her and just sighed instead. "Whatever." Floor 69 did have some interesting scenery, being based on a grassy plain rather than a forest like the previous floor. There weren't many trees, the few scraggy specimens being few and far between - more like shrubs than trees, really. It looked kinda like a prairie. From my experience on the floor, the monsters fit in with the general 'savannah' theme too. "The town should be just over the next few hills. All we have to do is follow the dirt path." That bit was more for me than her. I think we've established my sense of direction isn't the best in the world.

We had come out of the Labyrinth safely and made it to the 69th Floor. I knew there wouldn't be much more travel until we reached a town; the towns were always really close to the exit. I just counted my blessings that the town was easily spotted thanks to the relative flatness of the floor. I had figured we would be there in a good minute's walk, I'd drop her off, and be on my way.

Some things just don't go to plan.

I had forgotten that the floor was a lot... bumpier than it appeared. Within a few seconds of walking, we had found ourselves on a downward slope. It was a pretty deep valley, too, and if the rest of the walk was like that... I guessed randomly and assumed it would be at least a five minute walk. That was four more minutes than I wanted to spend with her. At least we wouldn't be attacked, since this was the path to the first town. Kayaba had given us that small protection, at least. So long as we followed the path, monsters would stay away. No sense killing your players with a random mook just after they killed a boss, right?

I groaned as I realized that it would probably take the rest of the day and part of the next just to reach the Labyrinth, and Serra glanced at me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," I replied. "Especially since we're splitting up at the town."

Serra pouted. "Aw, but I've been having so much fun. Can't I stick around a little bit longer?"

I looked at her. "You must be crazy." That was the only reason a green player would want to hang out with me. And no, the Horsemen didn't count. They had their reasons.

"Yeah, well, you're -"

Whatever she was going to say was lost as I glared at her. "Shut up for a second." I listened carefully, wondering if my ears had been playing tricks on me. I had thought I heard... Sure enough, another scream echoed from the hills to the far left. It was pretty faint, and I was lucky to have heard it the first time. Without any other warning, I took off toward the source of the sound, triggering my «Searching» skill as I went. It wasn't very high, but I could see player cursors from farther off. Besides, if it was a trap, I was screwed no matter what.

"Hey, wait!" Serra cried. I didn't slow down, and she started chasing after me. I heard her mutter something under her breath about men and not listening, but didn't pay it any attention.

In my experience, players screamed that loudly for only two reasons. The first was that they were trying to get help, and the second was that they were trying to lure someone into a trap. If this player screamed for the second reason, I needed to be careful. Once their icon showed up in my vision, I'd have to slow down and take precautions. Of course, it could also be the first reason; in that case, it was about a fifty-fifty chance that whoever screamed was being attacked by PKers.

I raced over the hills, glad that I didn't feel the burn in my legs I would normally feel if I tried something like that in the real world. There was some good that came out of these bodies, I guess. Before long, a single green cursor appeared in my vision. I immediately slammed on the brakes, dropping from a sprint to a lope and finally to a jog. As I jogged forward, I drew my hood up and triggered my «Hiding» skill. My appearance melted away. However, because I was still running I was only at 50 percent concealment; my general outline was still visible, though my cursor was hidden. If a player was lying in wait and trying to ambush me, they'd need to either have a high «Searching» skill or be able to pick my relatively invisible form out of the waving grass. So I was pretty safe.

I crested a hill and took in the situation. An armored figure was standing at the bottom of the valley. Unfortunately for them, this was one of the few valleys that was more like a smooth hole - they happened to be at the lowest possible point, and the only way to go was up. I immediately saw the problem; the player was being circled by several lion-type monsters. I had encountered them before; they were Nemean Lions, and they usually hunted in packs of ten or more. I only saw six there, so I assumed the player had managed to kill the rest. I didn't get the feeling they'd manage to survive alone; I couldn't think of why they were by themselves, but it was entirely possible their party had been split by something. Or the rest of his party had been killed.

Either way, it wasn't my problem. I turned to find Serra standing beside me panting, hands on her knees. I turned off my «Hiding» skill and started walking back down the hill when Serra turned to me. "Aren't you going to help them?"

I shrugged. "They aren't being attacked by a PKer. Not my problem." After all, I didn't have to care if the guy lived or died.

"I'm helping them." With that, Serra straightened up and drew her sword. With a cry, she charged over the hill.

I looked at where she used to be for a second, stunned. "Okay, there, Asmodeus, you have two choices," I muttered. "One, you turn around and walk away, no skin off your back. Two, you go help Serra and that other guy, probably getting yourself killed in the process." I grimaced and sighed. "Damn my honor." I gave my word. I turned on my «Hiding» skill and walked back up to the top of the hill. I groaned when I saw the state of the battle; Serra had been cornered by two of the Lions and the other four had just tightened the circle around the other player. I swore briefly and started making my way toward the circle of monsters. "Take care of those two," I whispered in Serra's ear as I passed. She grunted and shoved with her shield, bashing a Lion in the nose.

When I was about twenty feet from the small circle of Nemean Lions, I stopped. "This is incredibly stupid." I drew my trident and took a few steps back. I needed a running start. I started running forward and took a jump when I was about ten feet from the monsters. In midair I turned off my «Hiding» skill and drew my trident, throwing it when it started glowing a pale purple. It streaked forward, slamming into the side of a Nemean Lion. With a grunt, I landed on the trident, slamming it through the Lion and knocking it over. I surfed the Lion down to the bottom of the hill, where it burst into blue polygons. After I regained my balance, I gave my trident a spin for good measure.

The commotion had drawn the attention of the player. They looked at me in amazement. "I can say I've never seen somebody surf a monster before. You're crazy, friend." The speaker was male.

I shrugged. "What can I say? I know how to make an entrance." A series of loud, rumbling growls caught my attention. "Oops, I think we pissed them off." I took up a stance behind the guy. "Watch your back, you watch mine?"

He grunted. "That your friend up there, tangling with the other two lions?"

"Not exactly a friend, but yeah." We didn't have any more time to chat. With a screech, the lions pounced. I brought my trident up just in time; the lion targeting me managed to twist in midair to avoid the prongs, but it still got grazed by them. It landed awkwardly, stumbling on the landing. I swept the end of my weapon up at its side, the semicircle of metal biting into its side. It swiped at me and I barely got my trident around to parry it, the claws biting into the smooth wood. I winced; that would be a pain to repair. The Nemean Lion roared and tried to bite me; I shoved the side of my trident towards its mouth. The Nemean Lion's jaws closed on nothing more than the wing-like hand guard of my trident and it reared back, whimpering in pain and shock. I brought my trident around and thrust, the prongs piercing through the Lion's body and killing it. It shimmered and burst into blue polygons.

I turned to find the other two Lions lying on the ground, beaten. As I watched, the man drew back a large sword and cut one in half, turning quickly to the other and performing the same execution. I shivered slightly; big swords were scary swords. Searching for an excuse to look away, I glanced to see how Serra was doing. I calmly walked over to her, slinging my trident on my back. "Doing alright?"

Serra swung her sword, forcing a close Nemean Lion to back off slightly. "Could use some help here." I drew a throwing pick from where it hung on my belt, drew back, and let the projectile fly. It slammed into the other Nemean Lion's neck, hitting it as it was just about to pounce. It stumbled straight into Serra's waiting sword. "Thanks."

I grunted and sat down on the hill, studying the armored player while I waited for Serra to finish up. He seemed to know what he was doing; he had taken his helmet off for whatever reason, so I could study him at my leisure. He had brown hair that fell kinda haphazardly, and his sword was a bit strange. It had a strange reddish color to it, and these weird points every now and then that swept out from the blade. They looked kinda like thorns.

I heard the last Nemean Lion shatter into polygons and turned to see Serra sheathing her sword once more. "Have fun?" I asked her. She nodded, and I straightened up. "Let's go. Time's wasting." It was almost two in the afternoon. I wanted to be in the Labyrinth on this floor by the end of the next day, and that goal was getting further and further from me the longer I waited around.

"We should check on him first," Serra said. I glanced at her, and saw that her face was set; she was going to fight me on this one no matter what I said or did.

I could see the writing on the wall. "Sure. Whatever." I raised my voice. "You alright down there?"

The player started making his way up to the two of us. "I'm fine now, thanks to you two. My name's -" He cut himself off and jumped back, drawing his sword as he went. I was confused for a second before remembering my cursor color. "So. You're orange."

I waved a little bit. "'Sup."

"Are you here to kill me?"

"Nope. Don't want your items either."

He tightened his grip on his sword. "Because I'm warning you, if you hurt me, my guild..." Suddenly, he blinked. "Wait, what?"

I shrugged. "I'm not here to kill you. Hell, I didn't even want to save you." I gestured at Serra with my thumb. "Sparky here basically forced me to help."

"Oh." Still not lowering his sword, he looked at Serra. "Thank you for your assistance, Sparky." He thought her name was Sparky. Hee hee.

She glared at him. "That's not my name! The name is Serra." The male player murmured some sort of apology, and she appeared relatively mollified. "If you're okay, that's good."

Without waiting for an apology that I knew wasn't coming, I turned and started walking up the hill. I would have said something snarky if I was able to think quickly enough on my feet, but unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything related to the situation.

Don't look at me like that. I told you, I'm not articulate or anything. Maybe you're thinking of someone else.

With a last shout goodbye, Serra raced to catch up to me. We walked in silence for a bit as I tried to reorient myself. It was harder than it looked; the featureless plains all looked the same, and we were on a relatively low segment of the floor. I needed a higher hill to look around. Once more I grumbled at my lack of a guide; Uri usually handled those things. I turned to Serra, intending to ask her if she had been mapping, to find her staring off into the distance with a frown. I coughed. "Hey. Serra." She didn't respond, so I shrugged and went back to looking for the town.

"How can you stand it?"

I almost missed her question, she had spoken so quietly. "How can I stand what?"

She looked at me. "The hate and fear. That guy, back there. He threatened you after you saved his life."

"I just try to ignore it," I said with a shrug. "Besides, most of the time they're right. Most orange players try to steal your stuff. Or, you know, murder."

"But you saved him," Serra said. "Shouldn't that tell him you're a good guy?"

My eyes narrowed. "Think back to how you reacted when I saved you," I said. I didn't intend for it to come out so harsh, but I saw her flinch as if I had struck her.

We walked in silence for a time. We crested a hill to find the town about a ten minute walk away, and I was glad; that meant I could finally get rid of Serra. When she left, I could message one of the Horsemen and ask them to join me. Probably Raph; his levels were the lowest. Ironically enough, my levels were the highest, even though I wasn't able to accept many quests - it came from having to fight my way through the Labyrinth every time I wanted to change floors. At level 82, I was around par with a weaker clearer.

I had heard there was this solo Beater wandering around, like level 87 or something. The only reason I knew about that was because Mao reported a rumor about him once, having mistaken it for one about me.

"I'm sorry."

I blinked. "Huh?" I looked over to see Serra looking away from me, eyes focused on the ground.

"I'm sorry," she said again, louder this time. "For not trusting you."

I barked out a short laugh. "If you trusted an orange player after he saved you, you'd be dead by now. Not trusting me was the right move." That was almost as simple a trap as a Lure; the orange player would come out of nowhere and save the day, only to kill the target when their guard was down.

"But I bet it hurt, didn't it?" Serra was trying to probe for something, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what. I was a guy; nobody expected us to be in touch with our feelings. Only a freak of nature would know what his emotions were at any given moment.

I shrugged again, my voice flat. "I just try to ignore it." Long-time suspicion from others had taught me to keep my guard up around anybody except the Horsemen. "It's stopped bothering me by now."

"O-okay..." Serra didn't sound convinced, but she let the matter drop. She didn't speak any more for the rest of the trip; it made for a good ten minutes of silence. We found the path and started following it. After that point, it was just a good three minute walk to the entrance of the town.

As we approached, I tried to stay as far away from the entrance as possible. Despite my best attempts, two armed guards came out from behind the walls and leveled their spears at me. I sighed. "Down, boys, I'm not coming in." I looked at Serra. "Looks like this is where we part. Have fun." Still not saying anything, Serra walked past the two guards and entered the AREA. I sighed; I missed the safety of the AREA, sometimes. I wandered along the wooden walls of the town, not missing the two NPC guards following my every move. I flipped them off as a matter of principle before pulling my hood over my head and leaning against the wall. It was brutally hot out, but I was going to go invisible and it was a matter of habit. I slumped against the wall, resting in the shade and activating my «Hiding» skill. I really only intended to close my eyes for a second, to collect my thoughts, but I was tired from taking an extra night shift. Add the 'daring rescue' I had pulled off only fifteen minutes ago and, well...

Okay, fine. I fell asleep, alright?

_"...peered around the tree, fearing what I saw. I froze at the sight of my..._

I woke with a start, sweat pouring off of me. After catching my breath and wiping my brow, I sat up. "Damn it." I always felt like shit when I remembered part of the dream. "Gods damn it." I sat where I was for a moment, frozen in my position with one leg outstretched and my arms folded on my other knee. Eventually, it got far too hot for me to stand it. Despite what I wanted to do, I swiped open my menu and removed my cloak. As the warm weight disappeared, I shivered slightly. The sweat on my skin started to cool and I stood up, still groggy from my dream. I dimly realized that my «Hiding» skill had ended when I shifted clothes; rather than do anything about it, I swiped open my menu to message the Horsemen and let them know where I was.

It made sense to me at the time. Shut up. I was still half asleep, okay?

"Modeus?"

I froze, and then very quietly started swearing. "Out of all of the people that could exit..." The volume of my voice gradually started rising, until I ended in something almost like a wail. "...and sure, I'm an ass, but what puppy have I kicked to deserve _this_?"

Serra applauded. "Very nice. I don't think you repeated yourself once. And it was like two minutes long, too."

I glared at her. "What do you want." It wasn't a question.

"Well, I just saw you standing there," she said. "I thought you were leaving for the Labyrinth."

I looked away. "I...fell asleep." The last part was a mumble.

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that." I thought I heard a hint of a smile in her voice, but I wasn't sure and I didn't want to take the chance I was wrong. I growled and turned away. "Oh, come on. I was just joking..." I refused to look at her. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

I sighed. "I'll probably regret this, but what do you want?"

"You know those rumors? How they said you used to be in one of the big guilds?" Serra asked.

I nodded grudgingly. "I've heard of them." As part of their usual duties, the Horsemen kept up on all the rumors about me. It was nice to know my work was appreciated, though the weird name the info brokers had stuck me with was a little galling.

"What guild was it? And..." she hesitated slightly, then continued. "Do you think you could get me in?"

Let's just let that sink in for a second. She just asked me to get her into a guild. Me - an orange player - get her into a guild. Say it with me: what?!

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind. I closed my mouth, took a deep breath, and tried again. "I don't know if you realize this, but I'm an orange player. Big guilds don't really like people like me."

"Please?" Serra asked. She was close to begging, and I sighed. "I know this is a lot to ask, but I need your help."

I winced. God _damn_ it. "It was the Knights of the Blood."

"The huge floor-clearing guild? Red and white, that one?" Serra asked in astonishment.

I nodded. "That's the one. I was kinda high up there - nothing really important, but a public face. Apparently, some of the other players called me 'Knight's Angel' because I would help anyone with anything, regardless of the situation." Stupid nickname, I know, but what're you gonna do? "So when I went rogue, dropped out, and started killing..."

Serra's face lit up in understanding. "...the info brokers started calling you the Fallen Angel. Makes sense."

I shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. Their headquarters are on the 55th Floor in Granzam, so just head there. Ask for the commander, Heathcliff, and tell him I recommended you." I wasn't sure if my name would have any impact; I had served under Asuna for a time, but it was poor odds that my name was still in good standing among the guild.

Being an orange, player-murdering piece of shit didn't exactly a sterling reputation make.

I studied Serra out of the corner of my eye. "Though I doubt they'd take you, even with my name to grease the wheels." I thought that was the case, at any rate. It had been a while since I had been to the headquarters - for obvious reasons - so I wasn't up to date on their new hiring practices. Last time I was there, they were requiring that players prove themselves somehow.

Serra frowned. "What's that mean?"

"What it sounds like it means." I raised an eyebrow. "You're weak. You need more practice before they'll take you on."

She eyed me with suspicion. "Practice like what?"

"Like going through another floor of the Labyrinth, probably," I replied. About two seconds later, I realized what I had just said. "...fuck."

"Can I come with you?" Serra asked me excitedly. "I mean, you're going through the Labyrinth on this floor. So, can I tag along?"

"No."

She pouted. "Aw, don't be like that." She ducked her head and looked at me. "Please?"

I wasn't affected by her appearance. Well, nothing north of the border was affected. I took a deep breath, ignored the little voice panting 'yes, yes, yes' and swallowed. "No." That was surprisingly hard. I took a closer look at Serra and sighed. "You'll be following me even if I say no, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Yup!" The biggest smile was on her face. I just closed my eyes and counted to ten. That had the additional side effect of getting my libido to shut up, so that was all to the better.

I opened my eyes and glared. "Fine, you can tag along, but I'm calling in one of the Horsemen regardless."

Serra frowned, confused. "Wait, the Horsemen? Have I met them?"

I stopped and stared, stunned. "...yes?"

"Oh!" It was as if a light bulb went off above her head. "Were the four people with you the Horsemen?"

I blinked again, still relatively stunned. "You're just now putting two and two together to get four?" Maybe she was slower than I thought. Serra just grumbled something and wandered away, kicking at a small pebble that was on the ground. I sent a quick message to Raph, asking him to meet me outside the entrance of the town. He replied quickly, telling me to wait just a few minutes. Serra and I waited outside; she kept herself occupied with that same pebble and I just slumped against the wooden wall. I made sure to keep myself hidden; even without the boost from my cloak I was well disguised.

Eventually, Raph emerged from the entrance of the town. He looked left and right, clearly searching for me, and I stood up. "Over here, Raph," I called out, letting my «Hiding» skill deactivate. He nodded and made his way over to me.

"Doing alright, Boss?" he asked. "I wasn't exactly expecting a call."

I shrugged. "I need someone I can trust to watch my back." I gestured at Serra, who was still kicking around that same pebble. I took a closer look and it turned out to be a different pebble; I was mystified as to how that managed to keep her occupied.

Raph glanced at me. "There are so many questions, I don't know which one to ask first."

I chuckled. "She wants to go through this floor's Labyrinth as well so she can join the Knights of the Blood. The reason she's on this floor instead of the other one is because I fucked up and took her to the Labyrinth entrance instead of the town. And I'm cloak-less because it's hot. Anything else?"

He thought for a moment. "Do you think Serra's cute?"

I glared at him. "Bite me, Raph." He laughed, and I sighed. "Whatever. Still up for babysitting both of us?"

Raph's face creased into a grin. "I charge extra for two kids." Raph and I worked well together, so I felt a little more secure with him at my back instead of just Serra. Nothing against the lady, obviously, but I knew how Raph acted. Even though I was technically a higher level than he was, he took front. Probably because he was older than I was; he probably had a younger brother that he was used to protecting. I hadn't asked.

Come to think of it, the only Horseman that was my age was Uri, from what I had gathered. Gain was 24, and Raph and Mao were 22.

I turned to start heading toward the entrance to the Labyrinth; I actually remembered where it was. You tend to pick up those things when you have to walk to and from the damn thing multiple times. Raph fell in step beside me out of habit. After a few seconds, Serra called out and started jogging to catch up to us. She started walking beside Raph, though she occasionally had to take a small skip to keep up. Raph had long legs, and I certainly wasn't wandering along.

I glanced at Raph about thirty minutes into our trek across the grasslands. "How are those masks coming?"

"The Horsemen masks?" he asked me. I glanced at Serra briefly, but didn't bother asking her to ignore us. She had seen the Horsemen already; there was no sense trying to hide their identities from her. "We've got War, Pestilence, and Famine. All that's left is Death and we'll have the whole set. According to Lucien, it's almost ready." Lucien had been making the masks for us; he knew the Four Horsemen by sight. After all, he was the one that upgraded Fatal Retribution - my trident - when they brought it to him.

I snickered. "You make it sound like we're collecting trading cards or action figures."

"Once we get them all, let's sell them as a collection," Raph said with a laugh. "Then maybe we can buy a big house with the money." At my startled look, he chuckled. "Oh, come on, Boss. We know you've been keeping an eye out for a big house in the wild. You're not exactly subtle about it, you know."

"Really?" I asked with chagrin. "I thought I'd kept it pretty quiet."

"I doubt Gain's noticed, but that's 'cause, well, he's Gain."

I nodded. "True." Gain probably wouldn't notice the sky falling apart until he got hit over the head with a piece of it. "Got any juicy rumors for me?"

Raph shook his head. "Nothing new. Just the usual - you're a psychopath that used to be in the Knights, you kill dudes, you've managed to force four green players to do your bidding at pain of death..."

I laughed. "'Fear me for I bring your judgment' type of rumors this time, huh? Hm, better than ''Eh's a loose cannon and doesn't afraid of anything', I guess."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. Having to be told that I'm a lying cheating thief is starting to get old."

"Preaching to the choir," I said with a groan.

Serra looked over. "Hey, whatcha chatting about over there?"

"Nothing," Raph and I replied at the same time. She sighed and looked the other way, muttering something about men.

"Uri's kinda pissed you asked for me and not her, you know," Raph mentioned after a bit.

I glanced at him. "Pissed? Why?" Raph was a lower level, and we all knew it.

"Because she's..." He stopped talking and studied me for a second. "You haven't picked up on it yet?"

"Picked up on what?"

Raph shook his head. "I keep forgetting you have a blind spot a mile wide when it comes to these things, Boss. Forget it."

I glared at him. "What is it?"

"Nope. Not telling."

I growled under my breath. "Damn it, Raph..." I called him several rude names under my breath. Raph just continued laughing. "Now that you're done laughing at my expense..."

Raph composed himself carefully. "Heh. That never gets old." That wasn't the first time Raph had poked fun at me, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

For someone who's so concerned about our health, Raph sure liked to make us want to hurt him.

I remembered something suddenly; Raph hadn't been with me the last time I went through the floor. On the way up it had been Mao, and on the way back Uri. "Hey, Raph, by the way..." Loud hissing came out from the tall grass surrounding us and I sighed. "...the monsters like to ambush from the tall grass."

"You couldn't have remembered this earlier?" Serra snapped as she drew her sword and shield.

"Bite me," I replied oh so eloquently.

Raph sighed as he drew his dagger. "Boss, what have I told you about flirting while we're in mortal danger?"

Every part of me was singing with the adrenaline rush. "Shut up or I'll make those rumors true, Raph."

"Which part?"

"The part where I'm threatening to kill you," I growled. I drew my trident and twirled it a bit, dropping into a fighting stance. "And then I'll go through with the threat."

"You need four Horsemen, don't you?" Raph asked me. He knew I wouldn't ever kill him; none of the Horsemen were player killer, and I'd taken precautions to keep it that way.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Serra, want his job?" I called out.

"Less talking, more stabbing!" she shouted back.

"Fair enough, I guess," I muttered to myself. She was right, after all. I leveled my spear at the grass surrounding us. "Well, let's get to it." The grass rustled one last time and several serpents slithered out from the brush.

"Ugh!" I heard Serra exclaim. "I hate snakes." I snickered; typical. I couldn't pay too much attention to her after that, because the snakes attacked.

I recognized them; they were called Desert Asps. They were pretty weak, but a lot of them attacked at once - basically, they swarmed us until one could get through. Their attack itself was also pretty weak, but it had a pretty nasty poison effect. Not many things in this world had the ability to inflict poison, so people tended to ignore its importance. Since the only pieces of armor that I had on were my two armored gauntlets, I had to be careful.

As one Desert Asp slithered close to me, I slammed the end of my trident down on its neck, cutting it in half with the blackened crescent of metal. I grinned slightly as its body shattered; I was going to be just fine. With my weapon, I could keep them at arm's length. I didn't really have to worry about Raph, either; he was quick enough to dodge. Besides, his Acrobatics skill was maxed, and he could probably jump or tumble out of the way before they could strike him.

There really wasn't any more time to think, so I just acted. It was like my senses were on overdrive while I was fighting; everything just seemed so much clearer.

Like I said. Danger junkie.

With my particular weapon, I was going to be restricted to using the blade end, as the snakes were far too agile for me to spear them with the trident. I swiped at another close Desert Asp with my weapon, but it slithered out of the way before I could hit it. I growled under my breath and drew back, waiting. Finally, another Desert Asp drew close to me and prepared to strike; I thrust forward with the end of my trident and sliced it in half. The Desert Asp's body shattered into blue polygons and I grinned.

"Shit!" I heard Serra cry out, and I swore under my breath. I had forgotten about her before. I spared a second to glance at her, and realized that she had been bitten by an Asp. Well, that sucked for her. I knew Raph could get her an antidote after we finished off the snakes, so I wasn't really all that worried. Perk of having a guy on the team that knew how to mix medicines.

The rest of the fight was pretty much a blur, like it usually was; I only spared enough attention to my surroundings to know if I needed to watch my back. If I only had Serra with me, the fight would have been a lot harder; because Raph had joined up with us, though, I trusted him to keep my back safe, just like he trusted me. Eventually, Serra finished off the last Asp and we all relaxed. "Uh, don't want to be a bother or anything..." Serra mumbled.

I sighed. "Raph, get her an antidote, could you?"

"I can, Boss, but..." Raph hesitated. I gestured for him to go on. "I only have enough supplies for one antidote. If I give her this antidote and you get poisoned, you're gonna be shit outta luck."

I grimaced. "Give it to her anyway." It was technically my fault she was tagging along, so if she died that would be, by extension, my fault. Therefore, it would be, in essence, true that I killed her. God damn it.

Raph sighed and swiped open his menu. "You got it, Boss." He knelt down and pulled out his mortar and pestle; after dumping a few items in it and mixing them up, he handed the bowl to Serra. "Drink this."

Serra obliged and handed the bowl back to Raph after draining it. Her gaze flicked up and to the left and she smiled. "Thank you." She pulled out a small healing potion and chugged it, probably restoring the health that had been lost while being poisoned. "Ah, much better."

"Try not to get poisoned anymore," I grumbled. "We can't exactly heal you again." Raph had exhausted his supplies, and I certainly didn't have the ability to make medicines; technically I could - I had the skill for it, since poisons and medicines used the same skill - but I had no materials either. My supplies had run out a long time ago and I hadn't been able to spare the time or effort to go searching in the woods for a refill. "Raph, let's go." He glanced at me and then at Serra, but sheathed his knife and followed me without saying anything. That was good; I wasn't really in the mood for a lecture.

I was just glad I had friends I could rely on. It would be so lonely otherwise...

* * *

**There will occasionally be small snippets in italics. These are the bits of Asmodeus's dreams that he barely remembers, if you didn't pick up on it. Also of note: Asmodeus's line to Raph ("'Eh's a loose cannon who doesn't afraid of anything") is not a spelling and/or grammar error. It's a reference.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed.**


	4. Open Plains

**Floor 69: August 1st, 2024**

* * *

You know how I mentioned I had avoided a lecture from Raph about giving up our supplies to help out Serra?

I hate it when my actions come back to bite me in the ass.

Anyway, the three of us were walking through the grasslands, heading toward the entrance to the floor's Labyrinth. Since the front lines were just one floor ahead, there were a bunch of other players on the floor grinding, like that one guy Serra rescued. I kept my «Searching» skill active at all times, partially to grind it up a bit and partially to keep an eye out for any cursors. Orange or green, it didn't matter; I just didn't want to be spotted. For that matter, I would have spent my time hiding under the shelter of invisibility if Raph and Serra hadn't been with me.

That's because Serra had the unerring ability to step on my feet the second I went invisible. I swore she did it on purpose, but after the third or fourth time I shouted at her she promised she'd never do it again. I figured I'd thrown some fear into her and smirked, proud of my ability to intimidate. Of course, no sooner did I activate my «Hiding» skill again then my foot was crushed under her boot. "God damn it, Serra!" I growled.

She flinched. "Sorry, sorry." I glared at her, and she shrugged helplessly. "I swear I'm not doing it on purpose..."

I shook my head with a snort of disgust. "Fuck it. You two can explain why you're traveling with an orange player if we get stopped, then."

We walked on for a bit before Serra glanced at me, confused. "Wait, why would I have to explain anything?"

I was at a loss for words, and I turned to Raph. "Explain to her, please. I'm gonna blow a gasket otherwise."

"I told you to calm down, Boss," Raph said with a grin. "But no, you didn't want to talk about it."

"Bite me," I snarled. Raph and I swapped places so that he was walking between me and Serra. That way, she wasn't within easy punching distance.

Not that I'd ever hit a girl without good reason. It's just that she kept giving me such great reasons.

"As you know," Raph said, dropping almost unconsciously into his 'lecture mode', "orange players like Boss are pariahs in Aincrad. And for good reason; they're thieves at best, and murderers at worst. So most green players either stay far away from them or kill them on sight. A green player wandering around with an orange had better have a damn good reason if they don't want to get killed too." He was a pretty good teacher, really; he just had this air of authority around him when he chose to use it. "So what usually happens when we're changing floors is Boss stays hidden while one of us walks with him." When we were 'on the job', three of the Horsemen went ahead, restocking and gathering information on the front lines, while the fourth Horseman and I fought our way to the top.

"Us being the Horsemen?" Serra asked him. I rolled my eyes; oh, fine, so she listened to him but not me.

"Bingo." Raph smiled. "People that see us figure we're alone and don't bother us, and Boss doesn't get harassed."

Serra frowned. "But why do they harass orange players? Everyone should treat others equally. I mean, every orange player started out as a green player, right? So there's no reason an orange player can't act like a green."

I snorted. "Aside from the whole being unable to enter towns or use warp gates? Oh, no, there's no reason at all." Not. Bitter. At all. "Nothing to do with being hunted or having to walk everywhere or always having to sleep in a tree or not being able to sleep for more than four hours because -" I realized what I was saying and slammed my mouth shut before I said something I regretted. Serra's eyes were wide and her jaw had dropped.

Raph, on the other hand, was watching me with pity. "Still can't sleep well, Asmodeus?" I shook my head stiffly, not trusting my voice, and he sighed. "And you still won't talk to me about it, will you..." I just shook my head again.

"Wow," Serra managed to say. "That was something." I flipped her off without looking.

"Can we get going, please?" I asked. "I'd like to get halfway to the Labyrinth before sundown."

Raph shaded his eyes and studied the position of the sun, then swiped his menu open and stared at the map for a bit. "Looks like we're almost at a good camping spot." He pointed forward and to the left a bit. "About five minutes that way, there should be a tree with some stones." The stones could act as seats, and there was a small pit for a fire.

I nodded. "Sounds familiar. That's where we all stayed last time we were out this way, right?"

Raph nodded. "Yeah. You slept in the tree while we took turns on watch." That was one of the nights I had woken up still remembering part of my dreams. It only lasted for a few seconds, but I had still lost my balance and fallen out of the tree. The portion I remembered was a particularly nasty bit, and I had knelt by the base of the tree, retching. Raph had been on watch at the time and came over to check on me. I ended up telling him a little bit - that I didn't sleep well - to get him to drop the subject. He never mentioned it to the other Horsemen, something I was grateful for, but occasionally when we were alone...

"This is going to be so much fun!" I realized Serra was humming to herself. "It'll be just like with my old guild."

"Except we're not your friends," I grumbled under my breath.

Raph dropped back slightly. "Can she take a shift?" I nodded, and his shoulders relaxed just a bit. "That's good. I thought she was just going to be tagging along."

I grinned. "She's actually going to be making dinner. She's pretty good at it, too." I licked my lips, looking forward to the meal.

"Really?" Raph looked intrigued. "Maybe she wouldn't mind swapping tips..." Raph usually cooked for us when the Horsemen were with me; of course, when I was changing floors I only had him with me one out of four times. Sometimes less, if one of the other Horsemen were falling behind on levels. Once, Gain had gone three straight floors with me, just because he never got the kill as the tank. Mao usually spent the least amount of solo time with me, since he was the main fighter in our group, and Uri and Raph usually spent about equal time. My side suddenly stung, and I came out of my thoughts to realize that Raph was nudging me in the ribs with his elbow. "You're monologuing internally again, Boss."

"Bah." I smiled slightly. "Can't a guy have any peace and quiet?" Raph just laughed. "We should probably catch up with Serra, though. If she gets poisoned again, she's shit outta luck."

He studied me. "You're unusually interested in keeping her alive. She remind you of someone?"

A brief image of long black hair and a smiling face flashed before my eyes and I grimaced. "No. If she dies, technically it's my fault." I shrugged. "And then where would we be?"

"That's right," Raph said absently while scanning the horizon for any players. "You refuse to kill unless they're PKers or Lures."

"A guy has to have _some_ standards." I shoved Raph, payback for my ribs. "And don't even say what I know you're thinking."

"Who, me?" Raph said with the most innocent face. "I wasn't thinking anything." I glared at him, and he grinned. "Definitely nothing to do with standards and Serra over there." I just sighed. Sometimes, even though I was their nominal leader, they gave me no respect.

Scratch that, most of the time they gave me no respect. But I knew that if push came to shove they'd have my back in a heartbeat.

Dinner was, as expected, an excellent affair. Serra had either held out the night before or restocked or something, because this was something completely different. It was like she grilled chicken or some other meat and then put some spicy sauce over it and it was _amazing_ holy crap.

Ahem.

I did the basic rounds before we turned in while Raph and Serra were swapping recipes; I came back to find them deep in their menus, talking about different class ingredients. Something about a rare animal called the Ragout Rabbit or something. Nothing I cared about. "Four shifts, three hours each. I'll take first and third shifts. Serra, you take the second, and Raph can take the last shift. That sound good?"

Raph stretched. "Ah, the graveyard shift. How I loathe ye." He very carefully didn't mention the fact that I was taking two shifts, only three hours apart. Serra didn't notice anything, agreeing to the arrangements without a second thought. As the two turned in for the night, I carefully banked the fire and sat on one of the stones. Triggering my «Hiding» skill without really thinking about it, I started keeping the lonely vigil.

Fortunately, aside from a curious night monster that left after I stood up to get a better look at it, we weren't interrupted during my first shift. Yawning, I went over to shake Serra. "Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty," I muttered. Her eyes slowly opened, and she sat up with a yawn. "I'll relieve you when I get up in a few hours. Have fun," I said with a small grin. As Serra sat down on the stone, I jumped up into the tree and wedged myself between a few branches. I shifted around until I was least uncomfortable - these trees were not made for sleeping.

Well, not that other trees were, but this tree was especially... oh, forget it. I've made my point.

Serra had no reason to wake me up, and I was tired enough to sleep without dreaming - at least, anything I remembered. Didn't stop me from waking in a cold sweat, though. After calming down, I jumped down from the tree and walked over to sit next to Serra; she hadn't seemed to move from her spot, taking her job as watchwoman very seriously. I just smirked and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped, earning a snicker from me. "Not funny," she grumbled. She looked around, trying to find me. "Oh, you're hidden again. 'Night, Modeus."

I sighed as she called me that stupid nickname again and went back to her sleeping bag by the base of the tree. Maybe I could convince her to call me Asmodeus by... hell if I knew. Something to think about while I waited patiently for the three hours to pass. I usually played Solitaire or another card game; I had picked up a pack of cards back on the first floor when I was still a green player, and they had stayed with me for the entire time I was stuck in the death game. Those cards had seen every floor.

Of course, instead of playing Solitaire right away, I sat there and tried to think about how to get Serra to call me by my real name. That only occupied me for the first hour, and when I finally decided she was just too damn stubborn to change, I pulled out my playing cards. Placing them on the stone in front of me, I tapped the top of the deck. I started a new game and watched as the deck glowed for a bit before automatically spreading out in a familiar tiered pattern. I started moving cards around, humming to myself. Unless the game bricked up and I couldn't win, I usually finished the games in about two to three minutes. By the time my shift was up, I had played about fifty games, winning about thirty-some of them.

I walked over and nudged Raph with my toe. His eyes snapped open; he was an old hand at taking night shifts, so his only other reaction was to tense slightly. Because I tapped him on his left side, he knew there wasn't anything to worry about. Something the Horsemen and I had set up; a sort of silent communication system. He pushed himself to his feet and walked off to take a seat on the rocks. I jumped up into the tree again and settled myself down - I was still a bit tired, so it was even odds that I'd be able to fall asleep again.

_...helpless. I was unable to move a muscle, and all I could do was watch as the bastards..._

A tap on my right side woke me up immediately as I was in the middle of the dream. The same dream, of course; it's always the same dream. I thrashed around as an automatic reaction, dislodging myself and losing my balance. I braced myself for impact, but it never came. After a second, I opened my eyes to find that Raph had managed to catch me as I was falling. He let me stand up and watched me to make sure I was alright. "Okay, Boss?" he whispered.

"Fine," I growled. I needed to be curt; he tapped me on the right side, which meant we were in trouble. "Where?"

"Far." That was good; that meant we had some time before they were on us. Raph went over to Serra and shook her awake, covering her mouth with his hand to muffle her until he could explain the situation. I, on the other hand, started off in the distance. I could see where they were; whoever it was had a lantern of sorts, giving away their position. Stupid. But they could be trying to lure someone into a trap, so I still had to be careful.

It didn't help that the long grass of the plains gave away my position with every step. Even if I was hiding - which I was - the grass would still be crushed down where I was walking. Basically, all an enemy had to do was aim for where the grass was different and I would be screwed. So I needed to make sure I kept out of their line of sight.

As I approached from their side, I could hear what they were saying, but it sounded like it was two players, a guy and a girl. I couldn't make out their appearances, but they were talking to each other; I couldn't really hear what they were saying aside from the pitch, but they didn't seem hostile - yet. However, my «Searching» skill confirmed what I had suspected, that they were green players. I tried to get as close as possible to eavesdrop on their conversation. I turned off «Searching» and triggered my «Listening» skill, crouching low to the ground and listening.

"It's not like it's my fault we took a while..." That was the guy. He sounded a little exasperated, as if he had been repeating himself for a while.

"Oh, be quiet." I froze as every part of me that could clench did; I recognized that voice. "And who was it again that wanted to kill the dungeon boss?"

The guy sighed. "You say that like it's a bad thing. But we killed it, didn't we?"

I swore under my breath and started backing away as quietly as I could manage. I knew who the girl was, and I wanted to go anywhere that wasn't near her. She'd kill me without a second thought, and anybody she was talking to would probably do the same thing. For that matter, they were talking about killing a dungeon boss on this floor, and the only dungeon boss that was nearby that I knew about was pretty damn strong. That didn't exactly make me warm and fuzzy when I realized that.

I made it back to the small tree safely, hoping that Serra was awake and ready to move. Actually, scratch that; I was hoping that Raph was ready to move and that Serra could be convinced to group up with the two green players. Get her off my back, et cetera et cetera and so forth.

Raph looked up as I turned off my «Hiding» skill. "How many?"

I grimaced. "Two, and they're strong."

"How strong?"

"They were talking about killing a dungeon boss, just the two of them." I stared at Raph. "One's Asuna."

"Fuck!" Raph swore loudly. "We're gone." We triggered our «Hiding» skills simultaneously and disappeared. Raph raced off away from the two players, into the waiting darkness.

I was about to follow him when I froze. Then, I turned off my «Hiding» and walked over to the tree instead. "Serra?"

She peeked out from behind the tree trunk. "Asmodeus?" Her voice shook slightly, and I wondered what Raph had said to her that scared her so badly. "Where are you two going?"

"Anywhere that isn't here," I snapped. "You can either come with us or stay here. You'll probably be safe from the players. I happen to know they'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Privately, I was hoping she'd stay at the campsite, but I figured I'd tell her what we were doing. If she didn't realize we had left and tried to follow us, there was a chance she could get herself killed. This was the easiest way to keep her safe. Nobody else would die because of me, not if I could help it.

Serra hesitated briefly before nodding to herself. "I'm coming too."

"Good, they'll make sure you're... huh?" I blinked as what she said finally caught up to my brain. "Wait, what?"

"I'm coming with you two. Is that so hard to understand?" Serra glared at me. "And I'm not changing my mind."

I sighed. "Fuck it. I need to get gone before they see me." I triggered my «Hiding» skill again. "Follow the grass. It'll show you where I'm going." With those words, I took off. If Asuna caught me, I'd be dead before I could say anything in my defense.

Burning your bridges kinda did that.

I raced off, heading the way Raph had been going. After a few seconds, I heard someone running beside me. "About time," Raph said. I glanced over out of the corner of my eye, but only could see grass being flattened. I couldn't see him, but I knew Raph was running alongside me. "I thought you were going to be caught." There was a pause, probably while he glanced behind me. "I see Serra is following us."

"Less talking, more running," I panted out. "And not my fault. She decided to tag along." I grinned. "It's like an annoying puppy that pisses on the floor, eats your food, and won't leave." I heard Serra complain behind me, and I grinned again. That was far too much fun.

* * *

**Floor 69: August 2nd, 2025**

By the time we slowed down, it was almost dawn. We had circled around back to our original heading after we put some distance between Asuna and her friend and ourselves. We kept running, though, trying to get as far away from her as possible. As dawn broke, Serra finally called out to us plaintively, begging for a rest. I slowed down, shifting from a dead sprint to a light jog; by the shift in the grass beside me, I assumed Raph did the same thing. Suddenly, his form shimmered into existence; I turned off my «Hiding» skill as well. "Might as well take a break," I said, stretching to loosen my back.

Serra caught up to us. "So, what was that all about?"

Raph glanced at me, and I nodded. I'd take this one. "I don't know what Raph told you, but there were two players. Both of them were green."

Serra nodded. "Okay, so we would have been extra careful. Why the rush?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "One of the players happened to be Asuna, the Lightning Flash."

Serra's eyes widened. "_The_ Asuna? Like, Knights of the Blood?" I nodded. "Oh, wow! I kinda want to go say hi now..." I bit my tongue and very carefully didn't say anything. Say, about how she could have said hello if she had just stayed at the camp. "I've always looked up to her. She's so strong and beautiful."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said with a dismissive wave. "Anyway, Asuna has basically threatened me and mine with death if she ever saw us again."

"W-why would she do that?"

"I, ah..." I looked away. "I might have killed a Lure in front of her?"

"A what?" Serra asked, confused.

I couldn't remember if I had told her about Lures or not, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. "A Lure is a green player that acts as bait for other green players for the oranges to target."

Serra frowned. "That made no sense."

I looked at Raph, pleading for him to step in, and he chuckled. "A Lure is, like Boss said, a green player that works with orange players. They go and trick other green players, luring them into a trap set by the orange players."

Huh. That was a lot easier than how I said it.

"Oh, I get it now," Serra said. "But I don't get why that would have made Asuna so mad."

I snorted. "Because she has a hair-trigger temper?" I ignored Raph's small smirk, an expression that said volumes about pots and kettles, and continued. "It's because killing orange players is viewed as justice and retribution while killing green players is seen as murder. Simple as that." I looked at Raph. "That's where I met you four, isn't it?"

Raph nodded. "Yep. Boss saved us from a group of PKers too, but Asuna didn't see that part." He laughed. "She asked us to come with her, but we left to go help out Boss. To her, that probably meant we were working with him. Asuna was pretty pissed at us, but fortunately she didn't know who we were. We've changed armors by now, so she probably doesn't even remember what we look like. But Boss is still wearing that same shirt and cloak outfit, as tacky as it is."

"I happen to like my Cloak of Lies, thank you very much," I said with a sniff.

"It's still tacky, Boss. Who wears feathers any more?"

I rolled my eyes. "My lackey the fashion policeman." I looked at Serra. "So, basically if Asuna is anywhere nearby, we bolt, end of story. Even if it means losing the PKers we've been hunting."

"Wow..." Serra muttered, thinking over what we had said. "That's a lot."

I shrugged. "Meh, whatever. Water under the murder bridge." I looked around. "Well, no point in stopping now. Might as well keep going until we reach the Labyrinth. Raph, how far away is it?"

Raph pulled up his map. "About... twelve hours that-a-way?" He pointed off into the distance. "We should make it around dusk, just in time for dinner."

"Neat. Let's roll." With that said, I started walking again. Raph would catch up eventually, and I didn't _really_ care what Serra did. Honest.

You know, people keep telling me I'm a bad liar. Wonder why that is.

Anyway, we made it to the entrance to the Labyrinth just after six as the sun was starting to set, exactly as Raph predicted. I had to hand it to the guy, he was good with guessing. After eating another delicious dinner, this time prepared by Raph, we prepared to enter the dungeon. It was late, but if we got through the Labyrinth I'd be on schedule. Not that I had a schedule, really, but I'd have met my goals.

Shut up, you know what I meant.

The dungeon itself wasn't really as bad as I remembered it. I went through it with Mao the first time and Uri the second time, so maybe it was just a matter of familiarity. I knew where most of the pitfalls were located, and the tribal-like traps could be sprung pretty easily. The second time I went through, Uri had just disarmed the traps, but Raph simply sprang them and then got out of the way. To each their own, I guess.

Serra looked around with interest. "I've never been in here before. It's pretty neat."

I shrugged. "If you like pelts, grass, and plenty of bones, I guess it's a nice enough place." I sighed. "I just keep expecting a meerkat and warthog to come out of nowhere and start singing."

Raph laughed. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom."

"Be prepared," I said with a grin.

"I just can't wait to be king."

Serra was looking back and forth between the two of us with mounting confusion. "What are you two talking about?" That brought our quote train to a screeching halt as we struggled to comprehend that Serra apparently had no childhood.

Eventually, we gave up and continued on our way. My first clue that we were walking into trouble was the rattling of several bone staffs, and I swore. "Damn it." Several masked figures walked out of some hallways, each one carrying a staff that had several bones tied to the top. The bones rattled and clacked almost malevolently with each step the bearer took. "I hate these things." Short little bastards were a pain in the ass.

Raph glanced at me as we backed together. "What's their deal?"

"They throw stuff," I said. "Sometimes an explosive, sometimes a dud, sometimes a poison. It's the color of the little ball they throw." I noticed one of the Masked Shamans rearing back to throw something. "Scatter!"

We split apart and rushed the Masked Shamans; the red projectile hit the ground where we had been standing and exploded, the shockwave rippling out. I dove forward, sprawling on the ground as the shockwave went over my head. I looked up with a gasp to see another Masked Shaman with its staff raised above its head, prepared to attack me; I brought my trident up just in time to block the attack. With a grunt, I shoved the staff to the side and brought my trident up to smash the wood into the Masked Shaman's side; I thought I heard a cracking sound, though it definitely wasn't my trident. Probably the crappy leaf armor the stupid monsters wore. Or maybe the thing's ribs. Either worked.

"Boss!" I heard Raph shout. I whirled around just in time to meet a Masked Shaman's thrown gourd. It landed in front of me and exploded in a burst of spores, the powder covering me from head to toe. It disappeared quickly enough, of course, but not before it managed to poison me. I swore viciously and turned back to the Masked Shaman I had been fighting. We had to finish up this fight quickly and haul ass out of the Labyrinth if I had a chance of surviving. I hadn't been able to restock yet, and Raph had run out of healing herbs a while ago, earlier on the floor. I stabbed out, killing the Shaman and moving on to the next one.

After the last enemy faded away in blue polygons, I let myself relax. "This is bad," I said with a cough. "I'm poisoned and we have no way of curing it." Just because I had told him to cure Serra.

Irony's a fucking bitch, ain't it?

I turned to Raph. "Message the others, tell them to meet us at the entrance to the Labyrinth on the 70th Floor. If I make it out of this without having to use the Corridor Crystal, I want the area clean." He nodded and got to work, swiping open his menu and tapping away. I looked at Serra. "Raph and I are going to be hauling ass, so you're going to have to keep up. I can't guarantee we'll have time to wait for you."

Serra looked concerned. "Are you going to be okay?"

I sighed. "Worst comes to worst, I use my Corridor Crystal to warp to the exit. But I really don't want to do that, so we're running. Raph!"

"Message sent, Boss!" he shouted back. "Ready to go!"

With that, the three of us took off at a dead sprint for the exit to the Labyrinth. I let Raph take the lead, following him almost blindly as I watched my health bar slowly drain. When it hit low yellow, I was using the Corridor Crystal no matter what. We raced past a rather startled Masked Shaman on the fifteenth floor; I thought I heard Serra cut it in half as she passed, but I didn't really pay that much attention.

My worst fears came true on the eighteenth floor of the Labyrinth. "Raph, I'm almost at red," I called forward. We slowed to a stop and I started rummaging around in my pouch. "I need to use this Corridor Crystal right now or I'm not surviving."

Serra tapped me on the shoulder; when I turned to face her, she was holding a small potion. "Here." I accepted and gulped it down; as I tossed the empty vial away, I watched as my health was fully restored.

I looked at her. "...Thanks. For that." It was still obvious in the back of my mind that I wouldn't have been in that situation if Raph hadn't wasted his one cure on Serra, but I didn't say anything. She was clearly trying to make amends, so I accepted her offer. It was a little jarring having her owe me one, anyway. This way, we were back to being even. "Let's keep moving. This should buy me enough time to get out of here."

Raph studied Serra for a second, and then nodded. "Right."

We eventually burst out of the darkness into the night of the 70th Floor. It was a nice moonlight night, and I could see the false stars high above me. Even though they were the bottom of the 71st Floor, they seemed real to me. I sighed; I'd been in Aincrad for far too long. It was my home, now.

As we exited, Raph rushed forward. "Poison," he called out.

From the shadows, Uri's form appeared. "I've got a healing crystal," she said. She ran over to me and pulled out a green crystal. "Heal!" The crystal shattered and I watched as the small poison icon next to my health bar disappeared. I sighed in relief, finally safe. "You're safe, Boss," Uri said. With a sigh of relief, she gave me a big hug.

I winced slightly. "Careful, Uri. You might break a few ribs." I chuckled and returned her embrace. "Good to see you again, though."

"Hey now, Uri," Gain called out. "Let him breathe." Uri drew back, slightly embarrassed, and I deliberately gasped for air. Mao and Gain came over, chuckling; Gain slapped me on the back and I jerked forward slightly. "Welcome back, Boss."

I grinned. "Glad to be back. Speaking of..." This floor was a little colder, so I swiped open my menu and equipped my cloak once more. "Ah, I missed this cloak." I heard Raph snort in the background and I flipped him off without looking. "So, what's up?"

Mao stretched. "It's late, Boss. Maybe we should turn in for the rest of the night and talk about this in the morning."

"I'm beat. Not taking a shift tonight," Uri said through a huge yawn. "Mao, why don't you -" she broke off suddenly. "Why is she here?"

I turned to find Serra emerging from the shadows of the Labyrinth. "Oh, her?" The whisper of steel behind me told me that one or more of the Horsemen had drawn their weapons. "She's alright."

Uri walked up beside me, her sword drawn and levelled at Serra. "And you know this how? For all we know, she's just a good Lure."

"Because she gave me a healing potion when I wasn't going to make it in time," I snapped. "If she was trying to lure us into a trap, it would have been in her interest to let me waste my means of escape." I waved her down, and Uri reluctantly sheathed her sword. "Plus, she's kinda useless."

"Hey!" Serra cried out.

I glared at her. "Shut it. I'm saving your ass here." I turned back to the rest of the Horsemen. "She just wanted to tag along through the Labyrinth." I glanced at Serra again. "Now that she's gone through the Labyrinth, I'm sure she'll be leaving us alone from now on." Sure, it was a bit pointed, but Serra seemed like she needed the directness. "Since the next town is only a few minutes in that direction," I said while pointing.

"Fine, then," Serra said with a huff. "I know when I'm not wanted."

I rolled my eyes. "Evidently not, or you wouldn't have tagged along for this Labyrinth," I muttered under my breath. Serra fortunately didn't hear me, and started walking in the direction I pointed. After she disappeared into the night, I heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank gods. She's gone." I swayed as a wave of exhaustion finally swept over me. "I'm exhausted... 'm jus' gonn' pass out now..." And then my eyes closed despite my best attempts otherwise. I heard Uri say something in a concerned tone of voice, followed by Raph's tenor replying, but I didn't understand what they were saying.

* * *

**Floor 70: August 3rd, 2025**

Four hours and change later, my eyes snapped open. I didn't remember any of my dreams, so I was relatively at peace. I mumbled something and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. From where I was sitting, I saw Mao sitting on a log near me, facing a banked fire. I sat up with a groan, pushing back the light blanket that was covering me. Mao turned and grinned. "Morning. It's seven, by the way."

I sighed. "Sometimes I wish I could sleep longer than four hours at a time. It would definitely kill more time," I muttered under my breath. I pushed myself to my feet and walked over to where Mao was sitting. I sat down next to him with a wince; I saw that he was whittling a small branch. He did that, occasionally, when he was waiting or on watch duty; we all had some way of keeping ourselves busy. Mine was playing cards, his was whittling. To each their own. "Well, it's morning. When are we going over the information and restocking?"

Mao chuckled. "Well, we can handle the second part now." He dug into his pouch and tossed me a small wrapped bag, the usual way I got resupplied. With ease of long practice, I caught it in one hand and opened it, adding the various health potions and healing crystals to my inventory.

I studied the new items for a second. "No herbs?" Mao shook his head and I sighed. "Oh well. Maybe Raph and I'll go searching soon." He needed more health components, and I wanted to create a few more different poisons. "Where are the others, anyway?"

"Right here, Boss." Gain's voice came from behind me. I lazily turned around to find the other three Horsemen standing behind me. Gain was grinning widely while Uri rubbed her eyes with a yawn. They had probably just woken up. "Morning."

I waved. "Yo. So what's for breakfast?" Raph glared at me, and I laughed. "Kidding, kidding."

"You'd better be," Raph muttered.

The other Horsemen sat around the banked fire, talking amongst themselves. We enjoyed whatever food we could throw together - I had a few pieces of the jerky I had saved thanks to Serra. I didn't really pay that much attention to the others, occupied as I was with stuffing my own face. After we all finished eating, I leaned back and stretched. "Right, so do we have any good news?"

The Horsemen looked at each other and smiled. They weren't nice smiles. Mao turned to me; a look of positively unholy glee was in his eyes. "We heard this yesterday afternoon from Argo the Rat, so we know it's good. Rumor has it that the Laughing Coffin headquarters have been located."

I froze and probably took on the same expression they all had. "Oh, has it? Interesting." I started chuckling. "Well, maybe we should pay them a... polite visit." My grin couldn't have been any nastier. "There are some things we have to discuss with them."

Unfortunately for my entertainment, Gain shook his head. "There's a problem with that plan, Boss." I raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to continue. "Word is the big guilds are going to be sending a group of people to clear out the bastards. It's like a group of six or seven guilds, and the leader is the Knights of the Blood."

I swore. "And that's bad for us." I thought for a moment. "Mao, do you think there's a way we could spin this to our advantage?"

He frowned in thought. "I've been thinking about it all night. If we were waiting along the path to the Laughing Coffin hideout, we might be able to convince them to let us tag along. But that's assuming Asuna isn't with them." I shuddered to imagine the scene that would happen if she was there and we showed up. Large bloodstains figured very prominently. Even though we were in a game without blood. She'd manage it somehow.

"Worth a shot," I said with a shrug. "Where exactly is their hideout?"

"Floor 33," Gain replied instantly. "And according to the rumors, the raiding party is going out in two weeks."

I swore. "So we have about ten days to travel just under forty floors. That's not happening."

Uri grinned. "We did the math too. That's why we picked up this." She pulled out a large blue crystal, and my eyes widened. "The Corridor Crystal's already been set for the correct location, just outside the closest town with a warp gate to the Laughing Coffin. We can leave whenever."

I smiled at her. "Now I know why I keep you guys around."

Uri smirked. "And not because I'm so beautiful?"

"That too," I said with a laugh. "But speaking of your pretty face, do we have the last Horseman mask?"

Raph nodded and swiped open his menu; after he tapped a few buttons, a grey skull appeared in his hands and he held it up to his face. "The others gave it to me last night after you passed out." Raph was Death, the grey Horseman. I thought it was a nice twist; he was the one that usually kept us alive. Mao wore the mask of the red Horseman, War, because he was the best fighter, and Uri and Gain claimed the names of Famine and Conquest respectively.

Uri sighed. "I still don't get why I'm Famine. Raph, Gain, and Mao I get, Boss, but Famine?"

I shrugged with a small smirk. "It's 'cause I haven't gotten laid in forever and you're starving me." Uri's face turned bright red while the other three Horsemen burst out laughing. "Mao, how's that wood carving coming along?" It was something I had asked him to work on - it was intended to be a taunt to Asuna at some point when it was finished.

He grinned. "Almost done, boss. The horses are carved out, and all that's left is the center figure." Asuna was going to scream when we gave it to her. It would almost be worth getting killed just to see her face.

I relaxed, laying back. "Well, we've got ten days to burn before we need to be on the 33rd Floor. Looks like you guys get a few days off." I grinned at them. "Don't go running around too far, but you can go do what you want. So long as one of you's with me, I'll be safe." I looked around at them. "Take shifts, draw straws, duel each other, I don't care. Do what you want. I'll be hunting for herbs and stuff like that today, so let me know when you're ready to go."

We rarely took time off the hunt, so this was going to be pretty relaxing.

* * *

**I'll be using Conquest instead of Pestilence as the white Horseman – it works better with the characters.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks goes to **_JdkLeBleau728_ **for being a dedicated reviewer.**


	5. Raiding

**Floor 70**

* * *

It was a fun week; we didn't really have to worry about anything. The tensest moment we had was when a small party of front-liners wandered through our campsite just before we got ready to eat. We scattered and hid, preparing to run, but our preparations didn't turn out to be necessary. The small group of players expressed confusion over the simmering stew, but left it alone when they came to the decision it was a trap. I heard Raph heave a sigh of relief; he had worked hard on that stew and he probably didn't want some punks swooping in and eating it all. When I wasn't working with one of the Horsemen or trying to collect supplies for my poisons, I was repairing my weapon and clothes. I had, out of necessity, been forced to take a few skills that let me be self-sufficient; that meant, of course, that I couldn't fight like I used to.

I had once used the «Martial Arts» and «Acrobatics» skills to fight, but I had replaced them with «Item Repair» and «Listening» so that I could stay alive. I mean, I couldn't exactly walk in to a blacksmith's shop and ask for my gear to be repaired; the only blacksmith I knew that could help me out was Lucien, a guy I had met when I attended the monthly orange player's gathering incognito. He helped me out occasionally when I needed my trident upgraded; according to him, money was the same color no matter who gave it to him, so he didn't care that I was an orange player.

* * *

**Floor 70: August 5th, 2024**

On the third day of our week-long break, Uri and I went out grinding; she had fallen behind on levels slightly, and I had realized I was losing my edge when it came to fighting monsters. The two of us would spend the day fighting and get back into shape.

At least, that's what I thought the reason was.

"Hey, Asmodeus..." Uri said while the two of us were wandering around, looking for monsters, "so what was the deal with Serra?"

I blinked in confusion. "Huh? I'm not really sure what you're referring to, Uri." I shrugged. "It's like I said - she tagged along with me and Raph through the Labyrinth."

Uri rolled her eyes. "Not that." She brushed up against me and I did my best to not shiver. "She seemed almost disappointed when she left."

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "I don't know, Uri. I didn't do anything different, if that's what you're asking." I turned my head to look at her, but whatever I was going to say was lost when I realized her face was really close to mine. My mouth suddenly went dry as I realized again that Uri was really pretty.

Hey, I'm a guy, so sue me. When the head south of the border takes over, not much I can do about it.

I tried to swallow, but my throat wasn't exactly working with me at the moment. "U-Uri? You're a little close..." I looked away, my cheeks burning. If she got mad, I'd be minus one of my favorite body parts for a bit. Health could be recovered with a potion, but embarrassment lasted a lot longer.

She giggled and moved away slightly. "Look at you, being all shy. How you managed to get a girlfriend is beyond me." Once she was no longer pressed up against my chest I managed to get my lower half to listen to me again and started breathing normally.

"Long story," I managed to get out. When I had still been in the Knights of the Blood, rumors about me included my girlfriend by necessity. She had used to tease me by saying that I was breaking hearts without meaning to; I doubted I'd be breaking any hearts the way I was recently. When I was the Knight's Angel, maybe, but not as the Fallen Angel.

Well, I could do it literally by stabbing them, but somehow it just wasn't the same.

Uri sighed. "And I was so curious. Oh well." She grinned. "More to find out later, then."

I shuddered. "Somehow, you saying that terrifies me."

"As it should."

I grinned at her. Uri was pretty easy to get along with - not to mention easy on the eyes, so that was a plus - and she was my age, too. We actually had a lot in common; a fondness for small furry animals, for one. Apparently, she had a cat - I had always wanted one, but never could convince my parents to let me adopt a kitten. Something about 'too irresponsible' or 'not old enough' or 'going to get trapped in a death game and be unable to take care of it'.

Now that I think about it, my parents were pretty accurate with their nagging. Kinda creepy, actually.

Anyway, Uri and I worked well together in battle - I had plenty of practice fighting with a sword and shield combo, and she appreciated the support. It was pretty interesting, actually; apparently, before she met up with Gain, Raph, and Mao, she had been an info broker. Her curiosity or something like that - I don't know, I didn't pry. But the three of them somehow managed to convince her to join up with them and they started adventuring with a couple of their other friends.

Then things happened and they joined up with me. But whatever.

Later in the afternoon that day, Uri and I were walking back toward the camp after a successful day's grinding. I had managed to hit level 83, and Uri was quickly catching up at level 81. We heard rustling in the bushes and stopped; Uri drew her sword quietly. "I'll go check it out."

I nodded. "Be careful. I don't want you hurt."

She smiled at me. "You say the nicest things." She turned to the rustling bush and crept toward it slowly, not making a sound. That was one of her skills, «Silent Movement». It was like «Hiding», but for sound instead of vision. I hadn't bothered with learning it, thanks to my crazy high stats in «Hiding», but Uri said she found it pretty useful. Especially in times like this.

Of course, there were limits to how useful it could be. She took one too many steps toward the bush and it kinda exploded.

Not literally, but that sounds cool, so let's say it actually did explode. Heh, a booby-trapped bush.

The smoke took the strange form of a bird that flew away quickly, cawing raucously. In surprise, Uri lost her balance and fell backwards. Me being the fine, upstanding gentleman that I am, I immediately rushed over to make sure she was alright. Totally didn't double over in laughter first. Nope.

Uri glared at me, the sky, and the bush. "Stupid bird..." It was some low-level mob that spawned in all the forests. I think it was for aesthetics purposes or something like that. She stood up and brushed herself off. "Let's just get back to the camp."

"Sure thing, Uri," I said.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. "And stop grinning."

"What?" I said innocently. "I'm just glad you're safe." She grumbled something under her breath and stalked toward the camp with as much dignity as she could manage.

Which wasn't much. I mean, she just fell on her ass because a bird scared her. Curiosity killed the cat and whatnot, right?

* * *

**Floor 70: August 13th, 2024**

Anyway, the day of our departure finally rolled around. I was taking the last shift of the watch, and was studying the layout of the cards when Gain walked up to me, yawning. I glanced at him. "Morning." The cards looked like they were bricked up, although I had managed to get half of the cards up on the aces.

He looked at the cards over my shoulder. "Move the six of diamonds from the aces to the seven of clubs."

I did what he suggested and looked at the new positions. "Huh, that actually works. Thanks." I swiftly finished the game, dragging the cards around and placing them on the aces in order. "I didn't know you played."

He shrugged. "I used to when I was little. It got boring by myself, so I got pretty good at card games like this." He grinned. "Once I made some friends at school, though, I stopped playing." I shrugged noncommittally; I hadn't picked up cards until we all got stuck in the death game. "Today's the day we're moving out, right?"

"That's right," Mao said. I jumped slightly and looked over; I hadn't realized he was standing next to us.

I was tired. Four hours of sleep does that to a person.

"The task force should be going out tomorrow," Mao continued, "so we should have the surprise set up for them ahead of time."

I groaned. "Ugh. I hated the 33rd Floor. All marshes and swamps and...gah."

Gain looked at me with a curious look on his face. "Aren't marshes and swamps kinda the same thing?"

Hell if I knew, so I just waved the question away. "Whatever. Point is, it's hot and I don't like it."

Mao chuckled. "Well, you can relax a little bit. We'll be greeting the raiding party on one of the main roads, so you don't need to worry about the swamps for a bit." I sighed in relief; the problem was the stupid bugs that bit me whenever I stepped into those types of areas.

And Kayaba didn't add caterpillars. He had mosquitoes and itching bug bites, but no caterpillars. Jerk.

Before long, everyone was awake and ready to warp; we cleaned up the camp and did our best to hide its presence. If we could use it again, that was great; it was hard to find good spaces, and this one was a pretty great spot. After we finished preparing, Uri pulled out the Corridor Crystal. "Corridor open!" she called out. With a crack, the tall crystal shattered, and the air in front of her started to ripple.

"Let's move!" I snapped. If someone stumbled into the corridor while it was open, they could follow it too. We didn't exactly want that to happen, so we needed to get through as soon as possible. We all rushed through the portal.

* * *

**Floor 33: August 13th, 2024**

Immediately, I was slammed by the heat. I gritted my teeth; I needed to get used to it so that I could wear my cloak. I would probably need as much help as I could get when I was hiding, though I wasn't really sure who I'd be hiding from. Probably anybody with a sword trying to put the pointy end in me.

For some weird reason, I don't like getting stabbed. Bizarre, huh?

We wandered around for a bit, trying to find the best spot to surprise the raiding party. Eventually, Mao decided on a spot surrounded by some bare trees; the Horsemen and I would hide behind them. Then I'd jump out and introduce myself to the raiding party, somehow manage to convince them that I was on their side, and then tag along. That second part seemed a little suspect to me, but I rolled with it; it wasn't like I had any ideas. After our little ambush had been set up, we set up camp again. It was only around noon, so we just got to sit around for the day, enjoying ourselves. The enemies were too weak to justify grinding, and besides - it was way too hot to exert ourselves. The only thing I was good for was lying around, limp. Screw the heat.

* * *

**Floor 33: August 14th, 2024**

The next day, we all took up the positions behind the trees - or in my case, in the trees. Mao was in the main town, watching and waiting for the raid group to mobilize. Once they appeared in town, he'd run ahead of them and warn us - if Asuna was part of the group, the entire plan was aborted immediately and we'd scatter. Near the tree I was sitting in was Gain; he'd be with me if we had to scatter and get away quickly. My heart was pounding with the anticipation; it could be fight or flight, and I didn't know which.

Suddenly, a figure appeared, sprinting toward us. I clenched my fists; it was Mao. When he got to the ambush spot, he didn't hesitate a second in taking his position. "We're good!" he called out. That was good; that meant Asuna wasn't part of the raid party, which improved the odds of my survival a lot. I didn't mind gambling when it was even odds.

After a few minutes, several green cursors appeared in the distance. I nodded; that would be the raid party. Then more and more started appearing and I gulped - we hadn't anticipated this many people attacking. Regardless, the plan was still on, so I had to suck it up and play my part. I went over the lines Mao had told me to memorize the day before and drew my trident.

As the front players drew close, I jumped out of the tree, still hidden. In the air, I threw my trident down toward the ground; as it left my hand, it appeared and streaked down until it slammed into the ground tines first. The players halted, and some even drew their weapons. I landed, still hidden, and grabbed the shaft of the trident. I turned off my «Hiding» skill as I did so, and my form faded into view. The front players took one look at my cursor color and drew their weapons, pointing them at me. I pulled the trident out of the ground and with an ostentatious spin placed it back in the sling on my back. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen." I pulled back the hood of my cloak and smirked. "So nice to see you all on this fine day."

So it didn't sound like me. Not my words, after all.

One of the players pushed their way forward; they were dressed in the Knights of the Blood uniform, an armor set in red and white. "Asmodeus?" It was someone I knew from the old days when I wasn't, you know, a murdering scumbag.

I sketched out a small bow. "In the flesh." I heard the gathered players start whispering about me; I heard a few murmurs about the Fallen Angel and I grinned to myself. Mao had nailed it; he had figured that they'd give me a bit before immediately trying to kill me if they knew who I was. Right on the money. I looked around and feigned worry. "Wow, I'm feeling a little outnumbered and just a bit threatened by all of you. I hope you don't mind if my friends join us."

I snapped my fingers and the Horsemen appeared beside the trees. Silently, they walked up and stood behind me, Raph and Mao on my left, Gain and Uri on the right. Raph wore a grey skull mask, the sign of Death; as War, Mao had a red cracked and beaten mask. Uri had a green mask with sunken cheeks, as though the mask was starving, and Gain wore a white mask with only a small golden crown on the top to signify his status as the Horseman Conquest. The whispering doubled in volume as the gathered players recognized the significance of the masks. "Let me introduce the Four Horsemen," I said. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors."

The Knights of the Blood member fell back slightly and another player stepped forward. "Are you here to fight?" I felt my face grow pale as I recognized the voice. That was the guy that had been with Asuna on the 69th Floor and he was in front of me and now he knew what I looked like and what if Asuna had told him about me and oh god was I about to die?

I took a deep breath when I realized my thoughts were racing. I needed to calm down and not lose the momentum I had gained. I took a closer look at the guy in front of me; he wore all black and a long black coat. I noticed the handle of a black sword on his back - a one-handed sword. Let's see... one-handed sword, no visible shield, all black, coat... ah, crap. "I take it you must be the Black Swordsman." I grinned slightly. "You're famous, you know. Don't worry, I'm not here to fight you all. In fact, quite the opposite."

The Black Swordsman frowned. "The opposite? Are you talking about fighting the Laughing Coffin members?"

"Bingo." I folded my arms. "The Laughing Coffin and I have a difference in opinion regarding killing players, so I felt the need to talk to them personally to settle our issues." Mao's script seemed to be working so far, even though I had been thrown for a loop by the Black Swordsman's appearance.

The Black Swordsman thought for a second and nodded. Then he turned to the other players. "I don't see a problem letting them come along. We can use all the help we can get." I guess his words had a lot of impact behind them or something, because the players in the front only grumbled for a bit before agreeing. The Black Swordsman turned back to the five of us. "My name's Kirito. I think it'll be okay if you come with us so long as you guys stick with me."

Uri sniffed. "Guys?" Well, it's not like he could tell. What with, you know, the mask and everything.

Kirito's face reddened and he rubbed the back of his head. "Er, sorry. Guys and girl?"

"Better," Uri grumbled.

I snickered and composed myself. "Allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Asmodeus, the Fallen Angel, and these are the Four Horsemen, Death, War, Famine, and Conquest."

Kirito bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you all. I hope we can work well together." He smiled. "I promise I won't try to kill you."

I turned to Raph and the others. "This is the gentleman who will be accompanying us while we discuss our differences with the members of Laughing Coffin. Play nice, kids." I turned back to Kirito. "Shall we get going?" The Horsemen and I cleared out of the road as the rest of the raiding party went by. I didn't exactly want to be in the center of all of the players - they'd probably just kill me by 'accident' in all of the fighting. I felt much safer in the back.

As we followed the raiding party to our destination - not like they were telling us anything - Kirito tried to strike up a conversation. "So, Asmodeus, I heard you used to be in the Knights of the Blood."

I shrugged. "Used to be." If he was fishing for information, two could play at that game. "So, how was your adventuring with Asuna on the 69th Floor? I hope the dungeon boss didn't give you too much trouble." Raph shot a glance at me, shocked. He hid it well, though; the mask kinda helped.

Kirito blinked. "Huh? How'd you know..." So even the Black Swordsman could be caught off guard. Good to know.

"Don't worry about it," I said with a wave. "Us orange players have our information sources, after all." After that, Kirito fell silent and didn't press us for more information.

Eventually, the column of player stopped. They didn't really say anything, which was somewhat surprising; if they were trying to be stealthy about the attack, sending a bunch of dudes in plate armor wasn't exactly the best way to do it. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a murderer. The gathered players milled around uncertainly; none of them seemed to want to be the first to brave the Laughing Coffin's lair. I got fed up with the waiting - there were player killers just waiting to die, and I wanted to start the slaughter. I walked around the column of players without hesitation and made my way to the front, the Horsemen and Kirito trailing me. I calmly ignored the muttering of the raiding parties and stopped at the front of the assembled players; I glanced behind me, and then turned my back on them as a bit of a dick move.

What can I say? I'm petty like that.

The Laughing Coffin headquarters was apparently under this giant mansion on a hill - it was a pretty nice mansion, actually. If only the Laughing Coffin hadn't snatched it up first, I would have bought it for me and the Horsemen. Maybe after I killed the owner, I could buy it for cheap. Food for thought. Of course, it was on the 33rd Floor; if I ever wanted to go to the front lines I'd have to walk a long time. Maybe not such a good idea after all...

Apparently, the Laughing Coffin had invested heavily in extensive expansions underground, building a huge network of tunnels and rooms under the ground. Jerks managed to use up all of the solid land for like a five minute walk in any direction. But it did make for a great place to lie low when they weren't out on jobs killing people. According to the info brokers' rumors, the tunnels had two entrances - one in the mansion itself, and one out in the field, away from the house. We were standing in front of the second entrance, a stone opening in the ground. It was almost like the entrance to a well. After the raiding party entered, two select groups of players would be blocking both entrances to make sure no Laughing Coffin members escaped.

And no, I have no idea how the info brokers knew about this stuff. I really don't question these things, I just roll with it. Less stress that way.

I walked forward into the opening to find myself in near total darkness, the black only broken by the occasional lit torch. It fit the place perfectly, I have to say - what better place for rats to hide than in a dark cellar? I triggered «Night Vision» and the area lit up with a green glow as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I turned to see the other five doing the same thing; behind them were other players following our lead. We walked forward until we came to a split in the path; I had no idea what to do. The Horsemen stopped beside me, and I turned to Gain. "Flip a coin?"

He shrugged. "I say we go right." I was cool with that, and I started walking in that direction.

"Hey, hold on a second," Kirito called out. I rolled my eyes but stopped and looked at him. "We should split up and make sure we get everyone." He looked at one of the raid party leaders. "Is that alright with you all? I'd prefer if we went by ourselves, though." Oh, that's right. According to the rumors, he was a Beater and preferred to fight alone. Fine by me - the fewer people I had around me, the better. "I can handle Asmodeus and the Horsemen if I have to." Big words, tough guy. Hope you can back them up if you need to. Actually, from what I had heard, he was the best fighter in the game. So maybe he could back them up.

I decided not to make him mad at me.

The raid leaders reluctantly gave their assent, and the group split in two. On the right branch was me, the Horsemen, and Kirito; taking the left path was, well, everyone else. The six of us walked in the darkness without saying a word, staying silent by some sort of unspoken agreement. Not that it really mattered; the Laughing Coffin probably already knew we were coming. Thinking of that...

I pulled my hood over my head. "I'm going invisible," I said, and prepared to activate my «Hiding» skill.

"Hold on," Kirito said. I couldn't see it, but the tone of his voice said he was frowning. "I'm not exactly comfortable with you being invisible."

I crossed my arms. "Tough shit." Kirito grumbled something, and I sighed. "Look, I don't know what the rumors say about me," one lie, "but I don't kill unless the person is a player killer or a Lure." One truth. That's even, right?

Kirito hummed in thought. "Not right away. I can't trust you." Oh, right through the heart.

I shrugged. "Not worth getting myself killed, so whatever. I'll stay visible just for you." Kirito nodded and I sighed. "If I get killed I'm so haunting your ass."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Kirito said with a laugh. "In the meantime..." he gestured in front of us; we had managed to come up on a wooden door. "I think they're on the other side. How do you want to handle this?"

I cracked my knuckles. "Follow my lead." I approached the door, hauled back...

...and gently pushed it open.

Six orange players - five male, one female - looked up from their meals, surprised. I strode into the room, took one look around, and started scoffing loudly. "Good lord, can you believe this place? So shoddy." I peered at one of the stunned player's plate. "Really, stew is the best you can do? I eat better than that on a regular basis and I sleep in trees." I walked down the aisle between tables, examining every inch of it. "The seats rock back and forth, I think I got a splinter just looking at the table, and the lights cast plenty of shadows. This place is a dump." I stopped next to a player on the far end. "I mean, look at this." With a swift motion, I pulled out a throwing pick and jammed it into his neck; he fell forward, paralyzed, and landed in his stew bowl. Eugh. "Useless. You people can't even defend yourselves properly. Scum like you give orange players a bad name." I rolled my eyes. "Not that we have a good name to begin with, but my point still stands."

The five remaining Laughing Coffin members pushed their chairs back in shock and drew their weapons. "What the hell is your problem?" one thug demanded. "You got a death wish or something?"

I just grinned and snapped my fingers. Instantly, the Horsemen sprang into action; they had quietly snuck into the room while I had captured the Laughing Coffin member's attention. Gain tapped one of the players on the shoulder; when he turned, Gain slugged him in the face with a gauntleted fist. The player stumbled over his seat and fell down, and Raph knelt down next to him, holding a knife to his throat. Mao and Uri had managed to catch another of the Laughing Coffin members off balance, and he was currently doing his best to suck in his gut and not turn into a pincushion.

The best part about all of this? The other three players whirled around at the commotion, taking their eyes off of me. So, I disappeared. They turned back, probably figuring they could at least take me out, and I grinned widely when they did a double take. "H-hey, wait..." the female player stammered. "Where'd he..." Without hesitating, I drew my trident and stabbed her through the stomach. She glanced at the new piercing and grasped at it weakly. I let her struggle with me for a second before pulling it out of her body. She stumbled forward with the force and I spun the trident, slicing her across the chest with the semicircle. She let out a cry of pain and collapsed. Instantly, Gain moved over to cover her, sword drawn and at the ready.

I turned to handle the last two players to find that Kirito had already managed to disarm them and was holding them at swordpoint, their health low in the red zone. That was impressive; I hadn't even expected him to help us. Seemed like he was taking his job as babysitter seriously. I nodded and strode over to the paralyzed player. Lifting his head by the hair, I peered at him. "So how many people have you killed, Chuckles? Ten? Thirty? How many begged you for mercy before they died?"

"Go to hell," he spat out.

I nodded. "Probably." Without hesitating, I drew the knife I kept for emergencies and slit his throat. He died without saying anything else. I straightened up to find Kirito glaring at me. "What? He deserved it." They all did, the player-killing bastards. Every one of them deserved to die.

"No more killing." Kirito's voice was low and dangerous. "Nobody has the right to decide when someone dies." Ooh, touchy. Wonder if he had any experience with death.

I frowned. "Sorry to tell you this, but the rest are going to put up more of a fight than these losers did. You're going to have to kill unless you want to die yourself." I drew my trident and stabbed the female Laughing Coffin member in the stomach, killing her. "They'll kill you without warning and from behind," I said, making my way over to the player Raph was holding at knifepoint. "I don't feel like letting them have that chance." I killed him with a contemptuous thrust of my trident. I killed the fourth player just as easily.

It did start out difficult, you know. I wasn't a monster - just someone who had been pushed to the limit and did what was necessary.

I heard the rustling of leather and I looked at Kirito - he had pointed his sword at me. "I said, no more killing." I was almost afraid to push him - his eyes were cold and bleak. Of course, he did make one mistake when he threatened me.

He forgot about the PKers behind him.

One player had slumped to the floor, but he hadn't stayed there long. As soon as Kirito had turned his back, the PKer had staggered to his feet and drew a dagger. I calmly pointed behind Kirito, and he whirled, sword at the ready - he was just in time to meet the dagger. Kirito grunted and automatically slashed out with his sword; it cut the man across the chest and sent him flying into the nearest wall. The man groaned and then burst into blue polygons; it was impressive, in a way. Kirito had managed to kill a player with only one attack, one that wasn't even conscious - either he really was that strong, or the guy had been pretty weak. Either way, scary.

The second player had lunged to his feet and grabbed his sword. Kirito's back was to the player, so the Laughing Coffin member was going to stab him through the back. I drew my weapon and thrust past Kirito's motionless form, catching the player's arm between the tines of the trident. He couldn't do anything but watch helplessly as I drew my dagger and thrust it into his heart. That done, I turned to look at Kirito. He was standing there, stunned, and I sighed. "See? Without warning, from the back, and no mercy. Those people are rabid dogs, and they need to be put down." There was no response; he was just staring at where his opponent had been, stunned. I walked past him toward the exit of the room, ignoring whatever mental issues he might have been having. Not my team, not my problem. I couldn't afford to care about him, not when he could kill me at any moment. He might not have meant to kill the player, but it was done.

We pushed through the second wooden door to find more tunnels; we followed them until they split in two again. I grunted. "Conquest, Famine, take the right. Death and War, you're with me." Our group split up again and Mao, Raph and I took the left tunnel. We followed the path as far as it would allow; it curved slightly from time to time. Suddenly, we came face to face with Gain and Uri. My eyes widened. "Mother fuckers..." They had tricked me! The path was a trap and the real hideout was down the left path at the first fork. I slammed my fist into the wall beside me. "We need to move." I turned to start running back the way I had come, but stopped after taking two steps.

Another player was standing behind me, knife drawn. He grinned and licked the blade. "And where do ya think you're running off to, huh?" My eyes widened; when had he managed to get behind me? There was only one entrance and one way he could have gone. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a hidden panel swing shut. Ah, so that was how he did it. Neat.

I drew my trident. "Out of the way. I'm going to kill you regardless, but if you let me pass peacefully I'll make it quick."

"Ooh, big words," the player said with a small lilt to his voice. "But I've seen that weapon before. It's big, right? Got good range."

I hefted my trident. "So get out of the way before I skewer you." Or should it be until? Meh, whatever.

The player tapped his chin with the point of his knife. "Hm...nah. Don't think so." He rushed me suddenly. I tried to bring my trident up to guard, but my trident stopped moving after a few seconds. I looked at the trident; it was scraping against the wall. My eyes widened as the player sliced down with his knife, catching me across the chest. I grunted in shock - it had been a while since I had gotten hit by another player. I kicked out in a panic and the player jumped away with a mocking laugh. If only I had my Martial Arts skill equipped... But I wouldn't have the time to switch out.

Switching out... there's a thought. I sheathed my trident and swiped open my menu. "Death, cover me." Raph grunted in agreement and dashed past me to hold off the player. A knife-on-knife fight could be interesting to watch, but I didn't have the time. I navigated to my inventory and selected a certain item that I hadn't used for a long time. The trident on my back disappeared and was replaced with a slightly different weapon. "I'm good," I called out. Raph jumped back after parrying one last attack and I walked forward again, drawing my new item.

The player snorted. "A white spear? Even if it has two points, I don't see how it'll help you!" He dashed toward me, and I tightened my grip on my new spear. It had two blades, one on each end, but that wasn't why I had pulled it out of storage. I spun the weapon and thrust forward, trying to catch the player; he dodged, as expected. He was a knife user, and they usually had high mobility. But that was okay. I pulled back with one hand and thrust forward with the other; the shaft of the spear slammed into the orange player's ribs.

I grinned tightly as he clutched at the wounded area, gasping in pain. "What makes you think I'm using the blades?" The spear was shorter than my trident, allowing me to fight back with impunity.

See, I had used this spear for a long time. It was a good spear, and I'd learned a few tricks with it - most notably, I'd developed a sort of blend in my fighting style. I could use it as a spear or a quarterstaff, and that had often tripped up enemies. Just like this orange player. As for why I had chosen to switch to the trident, well...

There were things associated with this weapon that I didn't like remembering.

With a flourish, I twirled the spear and levelled it at my opponent. "I know the weaknesses of a polearm, you idiot. I'm not stupid enough to leave myself open like that." I lashed out with the double-bladed spear, forcing the player to keep moving on the defensive. I just needed to buy enough time...

Suddenly, a sword pierced through his chest and I stopped. The Laughing Coffin member blinked in surprise and looked down at the blade. I stepped to the side and leaned over to look at the bearer of the weapon. "Thanks, Uri." The guy shattered into polygons without any sort of fanfare.

Good riddance to that piece of shit.

She withdrew her blade and sheathed it. "No problem, Boss." She had circled around to surprise the player while I kept him busy. A common tactic of ours.

But we were wasting time. As one, the Horsemen and I ran until we reached the first door; I kicked it open and we ran through. Kirito was standing in front of the other door, and he whirled when we burst through the wooden door. "What the-"

"No time!" I snapped. "The real hideout's down the left path on the first branch." Kirito's eyes widened, and he opened the door and ran through. It started to close, but I slammed it open again with a flat palm. The Horsemen and I ran through, doing our best to keep up. We didn't slow down when we reached the first branch, we just kept going down the other side. The Horsemen and I caught up to Kirito just as he opened another wooden door at the end of the hall. We burst through to find that everything was calm and under control.

Kinda anticlimactic, huh?

Plenty of players were sitting on the ground, tied up. Almost every single one had an orange crystal, although there were a few green players sitting there. However, on every single player was the mark of Laughing Coffin; a black coffin with a grinning lid, shoved over just enough to show a skeleton's arm. Just looking at that mark made my blood boil, and I stalked forward toward the closest Laughing Coffin member. It happened to be a male player in a green cloak - his only other defining trait was a mask with glowing red eyes. I grabbed the front of his cloak with both hands and slammed him against a wall. "Where is PoH?!" I demanded, getting up close to his face.

"PoH isn't here," he said, and giggled insanely. "Aw, you look so disappointed. Did you want to meet him? So sorry." His lips curved into a cruel smile. "Did he play a game with you? Is that why you're looking for him?"

Have a relatively close version of what I was thinking after he said that: Kill. Kill kill kill. Killkillkillkill I am going to KILL HIM.

"Go to hell!" I snarled, and threw him down. I was about to draw my dagger to end his life when someone grabbed my arm; I growled something incoherent and whirled to find Mao holding me, the other Horsemen watching. Their faces were hidden behind their masks, but I could guess that they were worried about me. My hands clenched into fists convulsively, and then relaxed. I wasn't going to find PoH by killing one of his little friends, so I had to let it go. I couldn't touch any of these bastards, not with all of the raiding players there. I had to let it go. Let them go. Can't kill them.

I whirled and stormed from the room. The Horsemen let me pass and then fell in behind me; I ignored Kirito's demands to stop. As I approached the exit to the dungeon, the two players guarding the exit drew their swords. "Hold it!" one called out.

With a glare and a silent snarl, I drew two throwing picks and threw them at the players. They slammed into their armor and lodged there; paralyzed, the two guards fell over and couldn't do anything to stop us as we calmly walked past them. I glanced at their shuddering forms as I passed. "It'll wear off in a while by itself, but someone should be coming by very soon." I didn't hold a grudge against them, after all, and so I wanted to make sure they'd be safe. Relatively.

I didn't throw them to the wolves, so I consider that excellent restraint.

By the time my temper calmed down, we were a good distance away from the Laughing Coffin's mansion. I finally stopped storming away and turned to see the Horsemen watching me with their masks removed. We stood there, staring at each other for a bit, before I sighed. "Sorry, everyone. I didn't mean to lose my temper."

Gain smiled. "It's no problem, Boss. I can guess where you're coming from - after all, if you hadn't killed the PKer that got our friends I'd be searching for him too. Er, the guy who killed our friends, not PoH." He rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, you know what I meant." I hadn't told them exactly why I was looking for PoH, but it looked like they had guessed most of it. Not that I had been really subtle about it or anything, but still.

Mao crossed his arms. "Well, at least we made it out of there all right."

I chuckled. "You're right. That's good." I looked away. "But that bastard wasn't there..."

Gain slung his arm around my shoulders and I staggered slightly under the sudden weight. "Don't worry about it, Boss! You'll find him eventually. Besides, we're here to help." That's right - I still had my friends with me. I looked around, and the Horsemen were grinning at me.

I grinned back reluctantly. "Thanks, everyone." I coughed awkwardly. "Okay, enough of this cheesy romcom shit. We have work to do."

I'm such a sensitive soul, right?

Uri raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, we did just help cut the head off of the biggest PKing group around," I said with a small smirk. "Once news of that gets out, PKers will probably lie low for a while. So we're going to be out of a job until they get their nerve back."

Raph rubbed at the back of his head. "So wait, let me try to get this straight. The PKers aren't going to be around, we're not going to be able to find them... and we still have a job?"

I nodded. "That's right." I looked around and grinned at everyone. "How you do feel about taking on the front lines?"

* * *

**So, the Laughing Coffin raid didn't... exactly go to plan? PoH wasn't there.**

**Note to stave off future complaints: this was written before the Laughing Coffin's hideout was first shown in the show (August 9, 2014 for those who care) and as such does not match. I attempted to rewrite the scenes to fit the shown description, but I lost what I needed to convey; as a final result, I've decided to leave it as is. My apologies - I do strive to keep canon elements intact as much as possible.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks goes to** _JdkLeBleau728 _**for being a dedicated reviewer.**


	6. The Carnival Zone

By the time we made it up to the front lines, they had been pushed to the 74th Floor. Hey, whine about us being slow when you're walking everywhere, then I'll listen. Anyway, because we were going to be tackling the front lines, we needed to level up some more; because of that, all four Horsemen came with me on the walk up. After walking through forty floors and their accompanying Labyrinths, the five of us were confident that we could handle the 74th Floor's Labyrinth. So, the Horsemen got our equipment repaired - we had gotten my trident upgraded earlier thanks to Lucien - and stocked up on health potions and the like. Warp crystals weren't exactly all that useful since I couldn't run away if we had problems, so our supplies tended to lean toward keeping us alive rather than letting us run to fight another day.

What? You want to hear about the trip up? But it's boring... Listen, I could gloss over it, or I could sit here and say "We arrived on the next floor. After two days, we attacked the Labyrinth on that floor. That evening, we made it through the Labyrinth on that floor. We arrived on the next floor." I could say that, but that would be boring.

Well... there was one kinda weird thing that happened on the 46th Floor. You really want to hear about that? Oh. Of course you do. Fine, then.

* * *

**Floor 46: September 14th, 2024**

It was the middle of September, and we were just starting to get into our floor grinding groove. Before this, it had taken a few days to clear each floor - the floors were kinda large on the lower half of Aincrad, after all - but lately it had only been one or two days to clear a floor. We were getting stronger the whole time, and it was getting easier and easier to burn through the Labyrinths. Or maybe we were just that badass. Who knows.

Anyway, we were walking toward the Labyrinth on the 46th Floor when Gain stopped suddenly. "Hey, do you guys hear something?"

We all paused and listened as hard as possible; I thought I heard something, but I wasn't sure. "Gain, are you sure? I don't hear anything definite," I said.

Mao frowned. "Well, it's possible that he can hear things that are quieter. He does have the «Listening» skill, after all."

I made a small sound of agreement. "I have it too, but it's not maxed. Probably why I can't hear anything. You guys want to check it out, see if Gain's right or if he's just hallucinating something?"

Raph cracked a grin. "Hallucinating some random sound? Sounds fun."

"I'm telling the truth, guys," Gain said plaintively. "It sounds like carnival music."

Once she heard the word 'carnival', Uri perked up immediately. "A carnival? Really?" She noticed our rather amazed stares and blushed. "Not that I, uh, want to go to a carnival or anything..."

"Not buying it, Uri," I said with a grin. "Who knew that under that tough fighting exterior there was a little girl just begging to go to the -" Uri's sword was at my chest without seeming to cross the distance from her scabbard. "Fuck me that's a sword. Alright, new rule: no teasing Uri about going to the carnival."

Uri sheathed her sword and smiled happily. "So, are we checking out what Gain heard?"

As we all quieted down, Gain listened closely and grinned. "Okay, I think it's coming from this direction." Without waiting for me, he set off at an angle from our original goal. The others followed him, and I did the same; it's not like we really had a deadline or anything, right?

Eventually, the other Horsemen and I could hear the same thing as Gain, and he was right; it did sound like carnival music. All happy and bouncing - I was going to get sick of it by the time we were finished, I just knew it. Uri seemed to get happier and happier with every passing second as the music's volume grew. By the time the carnival came into view, she was positively giddy with excitement. A small smile snuck onto my face as I watched her face beam with happiness; it had been a long time since I had seen her smile like that. Come to think about it, the last time I saw that smile was just after I tracked down the first group of PKers with the Four Horsemen.

As we approached the carnival, a person walked out and stood by a podium. They had a coat and top hat on, almost like a crude mockery of a carny. "Welcome, players! Welcome to the Carnival Zone!" What in the hell? What was going on? I didn't encounter anything like this the last time we were in the area. Granted, that was like a year ago, but still...

We all walked up to the person; I glanced above their head and realized there was no color cursor. He was an NPC. "What's going on?" Mao asked. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Uri bouncing on her feet, staring at the different rides and games; god damn, she really wanted to to the carnival.

The NPC bowed. "The Carnival Zone is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Whether that was the truth or an exaggeration, I didn't care; it was something we didn't really want to pass up. "Inside, all players are safe and encouraged to have a fantastic time." Wait, we were safe? I could go inside a Safe Zone? I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry; it had been a long time since I was last inside one of those things. "And as safety is our number one priority, we encourage visitors to wear these masks."

Each of us was handed a mask that covered the top half of the face. Mine had spots on it; it was like a Dalmatian. Neat. Uri had leopard spots, Raph ended up with a monkey mask, Gain's mask looked like a panda, and Mao had a mask made of feathers. It looked kinda cool. We all put them on and looked at each other. I grinned at their appearances; they weren't the Horsemen masks, but the animal masks mostly hid the wearer's identity. It was charming in its own way, I guess.

I realized the Horsemen were all staring at me, their jaws dropped. "What's up? It doesn't look that bad on me, does it?"

"No, it's not that, Boss..." Raph said. "Your color cursor... it's green!"

It kinda felt like my heart stopped. How was that even possible?

I whirled to face the NPC. "What's going on? Why is my cursor green?" I probably could have been nicer, but I wasn't really in the mood to be nice; not when I was a green player again.

"As I said, safety is our top priority," the NPC said, not flustered by my attitude. "To that extent, the masks give you a temporary status, only valid inside the carnival, in order to avoid panic and prejudice." Oh. Of course, it was for the benefit of the green players. Should have known, really.

To be fair, though, the NPC routines were pretty damn realistic, talking about prejudice and stuff like that. At least, I hoped this was an NPC, or we were all fucked.

Well, damn. There went my hopes of becoming a green player again. It was a nice dream, really. Not that it would help me, much; I still had things I needed to do, people to kill. You know, the boring everyday stuff.

But still...just for one day... I could let myself relax, couldn't I?

Wrapped in my own thoughts, I almost missed it when the Horsemen entered the carnival. And by 'almost missed', I mean that Uri grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, nearly dragging me off my feet. "Jeez, Uri. I'm coming, I'm coming." After stumbling a few steps, I got my feet under me and kept up with her. "So, where to first?"

"First, we just look!" Uri shouted with excitement. "Oh man, it's been so long since I've been at a carnival." The other Horsemen had drifted off somewhere, leaving me and Uri by ourselves. When I realized we were alone, I looked around for them, but unfortunately I couldn't find a trace of them; they had already disappeared somewhere.

As we wandered around the carnival I realized there were more people around, and so I took off my Cloak of Lies. It was a nice cloak, but it was unique; if people saw it, they'd know it was me. Of course, that meant I was wandering around in just my black short-sleeved shirt, but I didn't mind. The temperature was pretty nice out. I kept pace with Uri as she ran from booth to booth, looking around and laughing happily. I wondered why a carnival was such a big deal to her. And then I realized I could just ask; I didn't need to guess. "Hey, Uri, how come you're so happy all of a sudden?"

"Hm?" Uri murmured, looking over her shoulder.

I shrugged. "The second you realized it was a carnival, your face lit up. What's so special about this kind of place?" Sure, it looked like fun, and the games looked interesting, but it couldn't be that much fun. I saw a few people playing a game that looked like a ball toss; when I got closer, I saw that they were tossing a ball at bottles stacked in a pyramind four layers high. One player launched a ball and it slammed into a bottle on the second layer from the bottle, knocking it over and causing a cascade. When the bottles finally stopped moving, none were left standing; the player shouted in triumph and his friends cheered. Kinda seemed like fun.

Uri just smiled and kept walking, looking at the different games and booths. "When I was a kid, my parents took me to a carnival, and I managed to win a huge stuffed cat from a booth." She looked off into the distance, a fond smile on her lips. "The trip is one of my few fond memories from childhood, actually; I loved that damn stuffed cat. I still have it, too - it was in my dorm room on my bed." Wait, was she cuddling with the stuffed animal when she Dove into the game?

That was a mental image and a half - Uri lying on the bed, the ends of her brown hair brushing the top of a stuffed tiger. And of course it was a tiger, right? I mean, the mask and everything.

She noticed my grin. "Oh, shut up. It was comfortable."

"I said absolutely nothing, Uri."

"But you were thinking it."

I laughed. "Not that you can prove anything." I grinned. "But as payment, I'll buy you lunch. Anything you want." Uri started to grin widely before I raised a finger. "One item only, and no changing your mind halfway through. Rules exist for a reason."

"Not that you've made a life out of breaking those rules or anything." Uri frowned and absently nibbled on a nail. "Hm... well, we haven't finished scoping the place out yet." That was true; the damn carnival was huge. "Maybe there's something good we haven't seen."

I shrugged. "Who knows." I grinned. "Let's get looking, shall we?"

Uri grabbed my hand and started pulling me along. "Alright! I don't think we've been this way yet." I let her drag me around, only complaining as a matter of pride. I hadn't seen Uri this happy in a long time, so I figured I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that happiness.

We stopped by a show on our way through the carnival; it was only held occasionally, so Uri and I stopped in right as the show was starting. It was a really neat illusion show, with an NPC pulling rabbits out of hats, doing card tricks... I was sceptical at first - after all, NPCs could spawn items if it was part of their programming - but Uri convinced me to just sit back and enjoy the show. We did have a different definition of 'enjoy the show', though; I watched and clapped at the appropriate times, while Uri studied the magician closely. After the show finished and we walked out of the tent, I nudged her. "What was so interesting?"

Uri laughed sheepishly. "I just wanted to see if I could figure out how the guy pulled some of those tricks off."

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you?" Uri just shook her head and smiled, and I laughed. "Shame. I figure some slight of hand tricks could be useful in fights." I grinned. "Where did my trident go? Let's look around and whoops! There it is, sticking out of your chest."

Uri laughed. "That's what we do on a daily basis." Laughing, we continued on our way.

A little after two o'clock in the afternoon, we had finally managed to wander through the whole Carnival Zone. I sighed, stretching my arms in the air and yawning. "Right, so we've made it through the whole place. Seen anything you wanted?"

Uri looked up from her menu; she had been creating a map of the area the whole time in addition to looking around excitedly. Seriously, she was like a kid on her first visit to, well, a carnival. Er, that comparison didn't exactly go where I wanted it to... oh, whatever. "I'm thinking either the corn dogs or the popcorn. Did you have a preference?"

"I don't remember what they cost, so either one is cool." My stomach growled suddenly, and I grinned sheepishly. "But whichever one is closer would be better. I'm starting to get hungry."

"Corn dogs it is, then," Uri laughed. "And then we have to go try out some of the games." A few of the attractions had seemed like fun: that ball-tossing one, a game where you had to climb a really unstable horizontal ladder, and one where you could whack some low level mobs that popped out of a box.

We made our way to the corn dog vendor and I approached the NPC behind the station. "Two corn dogs, please." I know, I know, it was weird to be polite to the unfeeling AI, but Momma raised me to be polite. A little hard to break the habit now, right?

"That will be 1200 Col," the NPC said. A menu popped up, prompting me to accept the payment, and I winced; I hadn't realized the corn dogs were 600 Col a piece, but whatever. Price gouging was part of the atmosphere, after all. I hit Accept and the money was transferred out of my inventory; the NPC swiftly brought two corn dogs out from behind the counter and placed them on top of it. I knew that if I looked behind there, it would be empty; the desired items only appeared once a player had paid up.

Grabbing the corn dogs, I returned to Uri and handed her one. She thanked me and took a huge bite; sitting down, I discreetly crossed my legs. She looked a little too hungry eating that thing. Somewhat nervously, I started eating my own meal. "It's not an exact match, but it's close enough," Uri said, studying her corn dog. "The breading's a little dry, and the meat is definitely too spicy. But other than that, pretty close."

After swallowing my mouthful, I chuckled. "You sound like a gourmet."

"I have high standards," Uri huffed. "And this place is just barely meeting them." She nudged my shoulder. "C'mon, hurry up and finish. I want to play some of the games and see the shows before the day ends!"

I polished off the corn dog and stood up, brushing crumbs off of my lap. "Lead on, Uri. I'd like to see how deep this rabbit hole goes."

"That doesn't make any sense, Asmodeus."

"It doesn't have to," I huffed. "It's a literary reference. Its sole purpose is to make me seem well-read." Uri just shook her head with a sigh. "Alright, alright. Where are we going next?"

"They had a funhouse over this way," Uri said and pointed off to the right somewhere. "Let's go check it out."

I followed her with a smile as she led the way toward the funhouse. I stared at the sign as we stopped outside it. "Uri, really? Funhouse mirrors?"

"It's a staple," Uri shrugged. "Besides, haven't you always wanted to see what you'd look like if you were fat?"

"Not really," I grumbled.

Uri looked at me with pleading eyes. "Aw, c'mon, Asmodeus. Please?"

I sighed. "Fine, fine, whatever. Just stop it with the eyes." They were dangerously effective. Uri and I went inside, more and less willingly respectively, and were immediately presented by a bunch of mirrors. "Oh, lovely. It's a maze." I poked Uri's arm. "You're getting us out of here. You know how I am with directions."

Uri grinned at me. "I know. You managed to take Serra to the Labyrinth instead of the nearest town." I glared at her, and she laughed. "I'm still not sure how you managed that."

"I was distracted..." I muttered. "She was talking about the Four Horsemen and I was thinking about that instead." I caught her smirk and I sighed. "And don't you dare make a joke about thinking and walking at the same time."

"Take all the fun out of it, won't you..." Uri grumbled. "Fine, fine." She studied the maze for a little bit. "Hm... I think I've got it. Just follow me." She started off to the right, and I followed her automatically. She knew how to read the layout of the room like a pro; just after that little bit of time, she probably had everything laid out in her head. Somehow. I watched as our reflections morphed and changed with every step; I would see myself gigantic in one second, and squashed in the next. It was almost fun, in a weird and confusing way. Uri laughed delightedly, watching as our reflections changed over and over again.

Eventually, we made it out of the funhouse. I rubbed my eyes; they were a little tired thanks to the constant movement of the mirrored images. "Eurgh. That was not something I want to experience again."

"Aw, tired already?" Uri said playfully.

"Not on your life," I growled. "I can go as long as you can." I did have some pride, after all.

Uri giggled. "Don't make promises you can't keep," she said, glancing downward slightly. I realized what she was insinuating and flushed a little bit. "Relax, Asmodeus. Just teasing."

I just shook my head and looked away. "Where to next?" I just wanted to change the subject and not give Uri more openings to tease me.

"Let's go play a few games!" Uri exclaimed. "I want to win something good."

I raised an eyebrow. "Want another stuffed cat?" Uri glared at me, and I laughed. "I'll see if I can win something."

The first game we challenged was the Whack-a-Boar game since it was the closest one. I watched a few players give it a shot; they were all armored and only using their fists to hit the boars. Regardless of their technique, the boars that popped up out of the various holes all died in one shot; as they burst into polygons, the score counter on the board increased. It looked like the best prizes could only be won if a player killed all of the boars; the player just in front of me did their best but missed a couple once they started appearing and disappearing faster.

The NPC near the game started repeating the game's rules. I only listened long enough for him to mention the rules about fists being the only weapons allowed; that was all I needed to hear. Everything else was pretty normal: the mobs pop up, we kill them, we get points. If they went back down before we could kill them, we didn't get their points. Sword Skills were locked while inside the Carnival Zone, so that part wasn't really a problem. I just cracked my knuckles and got ready to work.

When my turn came to bat, I was waiting for the first boar to pop up; Uri was watching over my shoulder. "Make sure you don't over-extend yourse-" Uri started to say when the first miniature boar popped up. I lashed my fist out, slamming it through the boar's head almost instantly before returning to my guard. "...oh."

I grinned at her. "Didn't you know? I used to have the «Martial Arts» skill. Maxed it out, too." What? I had to have _some_ way of defending myself against close-quarters attacks. It helped that the skill could be used with a staff, and my spear could count as that.

The boars popped up, and my fists knocked them down. I just fell into a rhythm halfway through, punching them almost as a reflex. Once they started appearing faster, I had to widen the sweep of my blows slightly; I didn't want to miss one. This was something I was good at; killing things came relatively naturally. And punching things came pretty naturally too...

I came out of my half trance when no more boars were appearing. I realized that I had killed them all and won a grand prize. A small menu popped up, asking what prize I wanted. I glanced at Uri, who was cheering, and picked the third option; a large stuffed tiger - I swear, I'm not making it up - appeared in my arms. I handed it to her with a small smirk, not missing her brief blush before she smacked me. "Ow! What was that for!"

Uri glared at me, but there wasn't any heat in it. "For keeping the fighting thing a secret. I was worried about you if monsters got close, jerk." Walking away, we bickered for a while before coming to the next game. I didn't miss how she was clutching that stuffed tiger to her chest, though.

The next game was one we were going to pass up until the carny called out to us. "Ah, what a lovely young couple. Care for a game of chance?" Uri and I looked around, confused, until it dawned on us that we were the couple he was referring to. Uri just giggled, while I started to feel guilty. What was I doing, enjoying myself? I was just a murderer, nothing more. "Come and try your luck, young lady! Pick the duck with a star on the bottom, and win a prize! The bigger the star, the bigger the prize!" I had been killing player killers and Lures, but that didn't change the fact that I was a murderer. I had forgotten that in the excitement of being safe and being a green player again. Even though I did it for a good cause, the end result was still the same. I still ended their lives; what right did I have to enjoy myself like this? "Oh, that's too bad. Try again, or will you call it quits?" The world that I was building, a world without murderers, didn't have room for me. "Well, that's too bad. Enjoy yourselves, now, you hear?" I was having fun in this world without-

"Hello?" A hand waved in front of my eyes, and I broke out of my thoughts. "You in there, Asmodeus?"

I shook my head, clearing out the cobwebs. "I'm fine, Uri." I looked over to see her face, concern shining in her eyes, close to mine. "I just feel like getting something to drink. You can go ahead without me."

Uri's face fell. "Alright, if that's what you want." Her grip on the tiger tightened. "There's a bar straight ahead to the left. Just keep walking and you'll see it eventually."

I grinned at her. "Thanks, Uri." Not waiting for anything else, I turned and started walking away. She might have tried to say something, but I didn't look back. I just really needed a drink.

I entered the bar, set my Col limit at 5000, and just started ordering drinks. It was a shame I couldn't get drunk, in a way; it might have been possible to forget what I had been doing. People without blood on their hands, that hadn't been driving themselves to murder as many murderers as they could; those were the people that could enjoy themselves at this carnival. I was intruding on their world, and I had to keep my distance.

"You're drinking pretty fast there, pal," someone said. I looked to the side to see an older man sitting a few seats down. "Trying to forget something?"

I sighed. "I guess." I didn't say anything else.

The man studied me for a second, watching me drink and drink, before he sighed. "I guess you have a good enough reason, and I won't pry." Nice of him. "But maybe just having a friendly ear would help."

I studied the bottom of my current glass, thinking about it. "I guess I just feel guilty." I couldn't get drunk, obviously, but the placebo effect might have something to do with the way I was opening up. I drank, and I expected alcohol to get me drunk, so maybe I was feeling a little buzzed. "I don't really have the right to face them, not after what I've done. But Uri was just so happy... I couldn't say no to her, and I guess I started to forget." I couldn't forget about what happened. It was the entire reason for my drive in the first place.

Or maybe I just didn't want to forget? Who knows.

The man just chuckled and drained his glass. "Maybe you should give yourself another chance. You're not meant to carry the past like a shackle tying you down, you know; it's supposed to be a boost, something to help you go forward into the future."

I closed my eyes. "Wise words from my elder."

"Take my advice, pal." I felt him pat my shoulder. "Just because your cursor's a different color doesn't make you a different person."

My eyes snapped open and I whipped around; the man was already leaving without saying anything else. How had he known about - oh, right. I kinda gave it away. 'Not after what I've done'. Smooth, Asmodeus. I drank my final glass slowly, thinking about what the old man had said, before standing up and making my way out of the bar. He had given me food for thought - should I really be clutching this tightly to the past? Or should I let it go... no. I had to kill PoH, and then the world I wanted would be complete, a world without murderers. PoH had ushered in this era of murdering and backstabbing, and I would be the one to usher it out.

I walked out to see the Four Horsemen waiting there, waiting for me to come back to my senses. Mao and Raph were talking quietly to each other, and Gain was lying on his back, watching the sky. And Uri... Uri was standing there, hugging the stuffed tiger I had won her, a smile on her face. I smiled in return, watching them all stand there. They were the people I was sacrificing myself for - them, and everyone else that just wanted to live in peace and trust their friends.

No, I couldn't forget just yet. There were still things I had to do first.

I walked up to the Horsemen and grinned. "Everyone enjoy themselves?"

Gain chuckled. "I had fun today. I got to rest and take a few naps, so I'm rested and ready to keep going." He didn't even bother sitting up.

Mao looked over, breaking off his conversation. "The better question is, did you two have fun on your date?" Raph snickered to himself. Bastards - so that was why they ditched the two of us.

I just laughed it off. "You're going to have to do better than that, Mao. I just spent a day with Uri's teasing." I shook my head. "I've become desensitized by now."

Uri grinned and hugged her tiger tightly. "You're building up a tolerance to me, Boss?" She was back to calling me Boss, now. That brief reprieve was over. "I'm hurt."

"Where did you get the tiger, Uri?" Raph asked. There was a certain gleam in his eyes, and I could tell he already knew the answer.

A matching gleam was in Uri's eyes. "Well, Boss won it for me, obviously." She faked a swoon. "It was so romantic. The way he killed everything in sight..."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, both of you." I sighed. "Well, I think it's time to get going. It was nice to be a green player again, though."

Mao grinned. "If only for a day, right? I've been meaning to ask - is your cursor permanent, or will a quest fix it?"

I looked away. "Permanent. Because I turned orange when I killed that Lure, I'm considered a red player and I can't ever go back to being green." Except for strange areas like this one, I guess. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is that you guys stay green, got it?"

Gain rolled over and smiled. "We know, Boss. You're the only one allowed to kill, and we can only fight orange players. The rules are pretty simple."

I didn't bother responding to that. I just walked towards the exit to the Carnival Zone, preparing myself to face the world as an orange player again. Behind me, I heard Uri groan in disappointment. "Man, I wanted to figure out how that magician pulled off his tricks. I love the carnival..."

I looked over my shoulder and grinned at her. "Maybe after things settle down some more, we'll come back and visit." Maybe they would. I faced front once again, grinning at the sky. No, I couldn't forget just yet. But soon. Soon, the debt would be paid and things would be settled. I pulled off my mask as I stepped out of the Carnival Zone; without looking, I knew my cursor bled back to the sullen orange color I was tasked with. Tossing the mask aside, I swiped open my menu and equipped my cloak once more; my mantle fell around my shoulders.

It was time to keep moving.

* * *

**Just a little bit of something that I figured could go in here. I tried to use it to let Asmodeus and Uri have some fun together, but I'm not entirely sure I succeeded; this chapter didn't flow like I wanted it to.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks to **_JdkLeBleau728 _**and** _Alicornation_ **for being dedicated reviewers.**_  
_


	7. Saviors

Right, where the hell was I? Now that I stopped and talked about that stupid carnival, I've completely forgotten what I was talking about before that. Let's see... I talked about the hunt, dropping Serra off, the raid... oh yeah, that's right. I was about to talk about attacking the 74th Floor's Labyrinth. Right.

Ahem.

* * *

**Floor 74: October 18th, 2024**

So of course we get swarmed by like five Lizardman Lords the second we step foot in the 74th Floor's Labyrinth. Story of my life.

"Shit!" Raph cried out. I spared a glance from my own enemy to find that he had been struck in the side by the Lizardman Lord's attack. These things were really damn fast and we were finding ourselves in a lot of trouble. Even Raph, our fastest player, couldn't keep up with them.

I growled under my breath and shoved my Lizardman Lord away with my trident. "This isn't working, Mao!"

"Give me a second," he snapped back. He was busy with his own enemy, although with the wide swings of his axe he was holding his own really well. "I'm thinking!"

I glanced over at Gain and Uri; they were doing fine on their own. Their shields gave them the best chance of blocking the Lizardman Lords' attacks, although Gain's tower shield blocked more of them. Still, even with the superior defense we were all slowly being whittled down. My health was almost in the yellow range, and I could see that the others weren't doing much better. "Mao, if you've got something now is the time!" Uri called out.

"I swear you two just keep ganging up on me," he grumbled. "Hey, wait. That's it!"

"What's it?" Gain asked. I heard a clang as he blocked another strike meant for his side. "Got an idea?"

Mao grunted. "Kinda. Boss, duck!" I obeyed him without question - as the best fighter here, he knew what he was doing. The second my knees hit the ground, an axe whistled over my head, slamming into the neck of the Lizardman Lord in front of me. It lurched sideways under the impact, but didn't die; I took the split second advantage to thrust forward with my trident and pierce its hide.

Squalling in pain, it shattered into blue polygons; I grinned as one floated past me. "Got one of the bastards," I crowed. Freed from having to deal with my opponent, I could help out the others. So that was Mao's plan; gang up on them one at a time until we were clear.

Glancing at the health bars in the corner of my vision, I realized that Raph was in the most trouble. I moved over to cover him; as I approached, I saw the Lizardman Lord raising its sword to strike at him. Raph had been knocked off balance somehow - he was reeling and in no shape to block the attack. If it caught him... but I wouldn't let that happen. I swung my trident at the Lizardman Lord's sword just as it started to descend, catching the sword between the tines of my weapon. With a twist and a jerk, I disarmed the Lizardman Lord, giving Raph just enough time to recover his footing and slice out with his dagger; the Lizardman Lord's life was summarily ended. I nodded at him and he grinned - he went off to help Mao and I went to help the other two Horsemen.

Uri and Gain had gone back to back to maximize their defense and chances of survival. I watched the fight for a second, and then jumped in. I snuck up behind the Lizardman Lord Uri was fighting and used my trident to pull it off balance. Taking advantage of its brief moment of weakness, Uri thrust forward with her longsword; I pulled in my gut with a small squeak of surprise as the longsword burst through the back of the enemy in front of me and almost skewered me along with it. "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry, Boss!" Uri called out. "No time for subtlety." I just rolled my eyes and jumped away from the Lizardman Lord that Uri was fighting. She could handle it from there.

I looked around and suddenly we had everything under control. Mao and Raph were wiping the floor with their shared enemy, Uri was carving chunks off of the Lizardman Lord, and Gain had managed to beat his enemy through sheer luck. Typical. I relaxed slightly, grinning to myself; we worked well as a team.

Suddenly, something caught my attention. It was the sound of boots; boots meant feet, and feet meant people. Or more enemies, but the footsteps were coming from a place we had already cleared out - there shouldn't be mobs there yet. I triggered my «Searching» skill and my eyes widened at what I saw. "Masks, everyone. We've got company." The Horsemen nodded and pulled the masks out of their belt pouches, placing them on their faces and equipping them. We'd gotten plenty of practice with this move; since we weren't hunting down player killers, we were running into other players a lot more often. We had decided to stop hiding from the public eye if possible, so I would just go about my business whether someone was there or not. When they saw the masks, most people bolted.

The raid party members had spread the word.

Finishing up with the enemies, the Horsemen drew closer around me. I counted the number of green cursors I saw and swore under my breath. "That's a lot of the bastards," I muttered.

We waited with bated breath for the players to come into eyesight. Eventually, they did, accompanied by a large amount of clattering armor. I took in the details - to be fair, there weren't that many details to take in. Every player was dressed in the same outfit, a set of heavy plate mail with a helmet that hid any trace of personal identity. The only player with any sort of unique marking was one in the front with a red sash.

Mao swore, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Gain blanch. "The Army..." he whispered.

The player with the red sash held up a hand and the company halted. "Identify yourselves!" he bellowed. No inside voice with this guy.

I snickered. Might as well play up the orange player angle - the Army wasn't exactly tolerant to anybody with a cursor color that wasn't green. I slammed my trident into the ground and spread my arms wide. "I am the Fallen Angel, Asmodeus!" I called out, my voice ringing through the suddenly silent air; apparently, the script I had used for greeting the raid party was part of my style now, so I had to introduce myself like that every time. It got kinda annoying. "These are the Four Horsemen! We have no quarrel with you. Let us leave and you won't regret facing us." I heard a snort from my left; I glanced out of the corner of my eye to glare at Uri. I hadn't actually seen her do it, but she was probably the one that snorted. Boasting was definitely something I needed to work on.

The Army player with the red sash gritted his teeth. "We will do our duty as members of the Aincrad Liberation Front and capture any and all orange players!" he bellowed. "Give yourselves up peacefully and your lives will not be in danger."

I frowned slightly. "Hm, I don't really feel like giving myself up. I have this _thing_ about older men, you know? Or maybe it's just men in general." Oh, this was fun - I could hear the player's teeth grinding from where I was standing. I turned to the Horsemen. "Any of you feel like submitting?" They shook their heads, and I nodded. "Gotcha." I turned back to the Army squad. "Sorry, but we're not giving ourselves up today. I think War has a date later and I promised I'd drop him off, maybe embarrass him in front of the lovely lady. You know, things that his wingman would do." This time there was an audible snicker from Mao's direction.

I think I understand why witty banter is so much fun. I mean, people look so _funny_ when they're raging impotently, right?

"Then you leave us no choice!" the Army player roared. He drew his sword and pointed it at us. "We will capture you with force! Soldiers, forward to battle!"

I shrugged. "Nothing to worry about yet." The other Army soldiers drew their swords and started running toward us. "Ah. That's something." I turned and bolted, the Horsemen already running. "Thanks for waiting, guys."

Raph glanced back at me. "Hey, they only want you, not us." They wouldn't leave me behind, no matter what they said. I trusted them.

I rolled my eyes. "So Uri, is there a safe zone nearby?" We rounded a corner to see a crossroads ahead.

Uri swiped open her map as we approached the branching paths. "Take a left!" We all took the turn pretty well - except Gain in his heavy plate armor, but he didn't stumble or anything - and kept running. I spared a second to look behind us to see the Army members chasing us; fortunately, though, they seemed to be falling behind. Must be tired.

Uri continued to give us directions, although they mostly amounted to 'Keep running forward!'. After a while, I saw the safe zone up ahead; Mao glanced at me. "There's players in there, boss! About eight, I think. Maybe more."

I sighed. "Let's just hope they aren't more Army members." That would just be perfect, wouldn't it? I shot another glance behind me to judge how far the Army soldiers were. They were still pretty close, so I gritted my teeth and swore under my breath. People still honored the convention of sanctuary, right? I asked for safety, they gave it to me, they didn't send me out to the wolves? I hoped that was still a thing.

As we burst into the safe zone, I cried out, "Sanctuary!" It was kinda like calling 'base!' in a game of tag - we were safe so long as the players couldn't physically force us out of the safe zone. "...er, please?" Interestingly enough, this was the only type of safe zone I could enter. Still not a good idea to sleep in one alone, because some enterprising player could take it on themselves to lug my motionless body out of the safe zone and then kill me.

I looked around and six players were standing in a semicircle, staring at me. They were all wearing pretty similar armor - like something out of a samurai movie - so I figured they were all part of the same guild. One guy with red hair held back by a bandana stepped forward. "Hey, you okay?" The Horsemen were all doubled over, panting from our mad dash to safety, and I wasn't in much better shape. I looked up and shrugged with a tired grin. "Hey, what the- you're an orange player!"

I sighed. Great. "And you have red hair. Can we stop talking about the obvious?"

Someone laughed. "He's got you there, Klein." Oh, shit. I recognized that voice, and by the sudden stiffening of the Horsemen, they did too. Kirito walked around the players to see what was going on and stared in shock. "Asmodeus? And the Four Horsemen?"

The red-haired guy - apparently his name was Klein or something - stared at me and my group. "Wait, you're Asmodeus? The Fallen Angel?" He took a closer look. "Now that you mention it, I see the masks. And he does look kinda like how you said, Kirito."

"Step aside."

At the sound of the cold voice, I froze and my eyes widened. "Fuck. Me." The six samurai players moved out of the way to show a lithe female figure with long chestnut hair, dressed in red and white. I gulped. "Er. Hi, Asuna?"

She didn't respond. She just drew her rapier and pointed it at me.

I didn't take my eyes off of the blade. "So, that's a definite yes on the whole killing me thing. Cool. I can live with that." I kinda have this habit of mouthing off when my life's in danger. Normal situations, I can't think of anything to say, but point a sword at my chest and boom! The words come flowing from my mouth.

Granted, I usually get myself into more trouble that way, but at least I'm kinda witty. Now, if only I could figure out how to work it when I _wasn't _about to die...

"You won't live with it for much longer." Her voice was frigid; anything liquid in about five meters froze solid. Well, at least I wouldn't piss myself - silver lining and all that jazz, right?

Now, I could say I courageously defused the situation by offering myself to her in the hopes that the Horsemen could escape. I could also say that I fought my way out of the Labyrinth, killing the Floor boss as an afterthought. Neither one is true, of course, but I could say that. Both of them are cooler than what actually happened. Can we just skip this part?

...no? Fine, then.

I whimpered slightly. "Please don't kill me." See, there's a reason I wanted to skip over this part. Whimpering doesn't exactly fit with the whole 'badass motherfucker' vibe I've been trying to give off.

Asuna tightened her grip on her rapier - it was a new one, I noticed. The things you pick up when you're about to die. "You should have thought of that before you started killing." Oh god I was going to die and I hadn't killed PoH and wow I was hungry. Screw you, stomach. Be hungry when I'm not about to die.

Suddenly, Kirito stepped between us. "Asuna, it's all right."

"K-Kirito?" I'm not sure which one of us was more surprised, me or Asuna.

I slumped to the ground in relief, and in the background I could hear the Horsemen collapsing as well. "Holy shit, I'm alive. Wow. This is surprising." I looked up to see Asuna staring at Kirito. They were talking about something quietly, and by the hand gestures it probably had something to do with me.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of armored feet approaching from behind us and I swore. In the sudden commotion with Asuna, we had forgotten about the Army. Scrambling to get as far away from the entrance to the safe zone as possible, the Horsemen and I pressed ourselves against the far wall. Of course, that did put me closer to Asuna, but frying pan versus the fire, I think I made the right choice. Kirito evidently could keep her from killing me, at least for a little while, while the Army would lock me up without a second thought.

The squadron of Army players entered the safe zone and stood there, panting. The guy with a red sash turned around. "At ease," he barked. Immediately, every other member of the squadron collapsed, dropping where they stood. After racing after us, they were entirely wiped out. He turned back to the six players that the Horsemen and I were hiding behind. "Give the orange player and his friends to us."

Klein's eyes narrowed. "C'mon now, buddy. There's no call to be rude. What's your name?"

He growled under his breath. "I'm with the Aincrad Liberation Force. Lieutenant Colonel Corbatz." Neat. Don't care.

Kirito stepped forward. "I'm Kirito. Solo."

Corbatz grinned. "Sure you are. Now, give us the murdering scum you're protecting!"

"Um, as the murdering scum in question, I'd like to request that you not do what he says." I said. Klein glanced at me, and I winced. "Just asking."

Klein grinned. "Kirito will take care of this. Don't worry." Yeah, sure. Don't worry. Easy for him to say - he wasn't the one being hunted. I had Asuna on my left and these jerks in front; there was no way out for me. I did have the Corridor Crystal, but it would be almost useless since they could just follow me. But I could just go hidden the second their eyes were off me... Food for thought. If things went ugly, that would be my escape plan.

Kirito glared at Corbatz, but when he spoke his voice was calm. "How about we make a trade?"

"What did you have in mind?"

Kirito swiped open his menu. "I've cleared out the area up ahead and I have a map with directions to the boss room." Wait, what?! They'd found it?

And he was going to give it up for me? What was this, Opposite Day or something?

Corbatz hummed in thought for a second. "Right. Our orders were to find and attack the boss room, after all." He raised his hand, palm up. "Hand over that map and we'll be on our way."

"What?" Klein exclaimed. "Kirito, are you sure?" He glanced at me, but didn't say anything else.

Kirito grinned at Klein. "I've got this, Klein. Besides, it's always a good idea to help someone out when they need it." He turned to Corbatz and started the transaction. "Will you leave them alone after this?"

Corbatz studied the data he had received thoughtfully. "Hm... So long as we don't see them again, we'll consider this a settled matter." He turned and started walking back to his troops. "Thanks for cooperating."

"Hey, I just took a look inside that room, pal," Kirito called out. "And you can't beat that boss if your troops are half-dead! Look at them! They're exhausted!" So he was concerned about other people, too? How noble. And here was little me thinking I was special.

Corbatz whirled angrily. "Nonsense! My men are tougher than that. They won't quit until I say so!" He turned back to his troops. "On your feet! C'mon, move!" Groaning with exhaustion, his men staggered to their feet.

We all watched the small platoon walk out. "Oh, man," said Klein. "Are those guys gonna be okay?"

I didn't know what to say to that, so I decided to change the subject. "While I'm grateful for your rescue, Kirito, why'd you do that?" He glanced at me. "I mean, map data is a lot more valuable than some piece of shit, player-killing scumbag like me." He winced slightly at the bitterness in my voice; but hey, if they were going to call me that, I'd make them squirm to hear it. I mean, it gets a little tiring hearing the same thing over and over again. I killed for a damn good reason, and it was for a good cause.

Surprisingly, Kirito laughed. "When Asuna and I got back to town I was gonna go public with the map anyway. It's cool." He didn't exactly answer my question. "Besides, it's always better to hear the other side of the story too. After all, you saved me before." Oh, right. That.

Pushing myself to my feet, I waved the Horsemen to theirs. "So, thanks for the help. We'll be out of your way as soon as-" My words were cut off by a very prominent rapier at the center of my chest. "Or, whatever you think works is cool. No problem."

Asuna was staring at me, eyes deadly. "I told you the next time I saw you I was killing you, no questions asked." Suddenly, she sheathed her rapier. "Lucky for you, I'm taking the day off." Whatever Kirito said must have helped calm her down. I didn't care either way; my head was still attached to the rest of me. "But I don't feel comfortable just letting you walk loose in the Labyrinth with us. I'd feel better if I could keep an eye on you." And kill me if it looked like I was a player-killer at heart. But she didn't add that part.

Kirito was staring after the recently-departed Army members. "Maybe we should keep an eye on them anyway." He glanced at Klein, who grinned back at him. He sighed. "I don't know who's nicer, you or me."

Klein chuckled. "What are friends for, right, buddy?" He slung his arm around Kirito's shoulder. "Me and the rest of the guild were going to fight some mobs anyway." So those other guys were part of his guild? Huh. Neat. Klein eyed me and the Horsemen before looking back at Kirito. "Say, you two want to join up with us? We can all keep watch together."

Oh, very funny.

Kirito laughed. "Sure, why not. I think there are some Lizardman Lords over on the east side." I was going to say that the Horsemen and I had gotten enough fighting in for one day, but I was very aware of Asuna's glare at my back. I couldn't exactly get away from them.

So we ended up fighting with Fuurinkazan, Klein's guild, and Asuna and Kirito for a while. The Horsemen and I watched on the sidelines as Klein fought the last mob. Raph leaned over. "Is this really the smartest thing to be doing?" he whispered.

"She's not called the Lightning Flash for nothing, Raph," I whispered back. "If we run, she'll catch us. And then we all die."

Gain shuddered. "And I don't really want that to happen."

Uri poked Mao in the ribs. "Do you really have a date, or is that just something Boss made up to mess with the Army guy?"

Wow. Mao's eyeroll was _audible_. Talk about beyond the impossible. "What do you think, Uri? When have I had time to set up a date?"

Uri laughed. "Just messing with you. Lighten up."

Suddenly, a scream rang out. Kirito and Asuna shot off toward the west at a dead run - I figured that was where the boss room was located. Made sense; the only people that would be screaming on this floor would be the Army guys. Klein and his guild made to follow, but stopped when they saw we weren't moving. "Well? Let's go!" he called out.

"Do we really have to?" I asked plaintively. Klein patted the butt of his katana and I nodded. "You make a valid and persuasive argument." I turned to the Horsemen. "Let's go." Groaning, they followed me as we all ran after Asuna and Kirito.

When we reached the boss door, I stopped in shock. This was the first time in over a year that I had seen a boss up close and personal - for kinda obvious reasons, right? - and it was just as terrifying as the ones I had fought. It was tall with blue fur; its back was towards us, but I could still see the goat horns and the gigantic fuck-off sword it was carrying. "That's a sword, all right," I muttered. Something moved toward us, and I blinked in shock. The fucking thing had a cobra for a tail!

The boss swiped with its gigantic sword, sending several players flying; it had managed to somehow trap them all on the other side. Klein ran up to Kirito's side. "Hey! The hell's going on?" He gasped as he took in the scene.

"They're insane..." Kirito muttered. "They can't use their teleportation crystals..." Huh. That was new. And absolutely, terrifyingly ironic. Seems I was better prepared than the others were. Heh. If it weren't so sad I'd be laughing.

Klein stared at the situation. "But... Isn't there something we can do?" Kirito could only grit his teeth.

"Ready? Charge!" That shout belonged to Corbatz. Great, he was attacking instead of getting the fuck out. Idiot.

Kirito stepped forward. "Don't do it!"

The boss reared back and did something - it looked like it shot lightning from its mouth. Whatever it did, the entire formation of attacking players was suddenly flattened. With the players stunned, the boss drew back its sword and slammed it into the ground, dust filling the air; several players were sent sprawling on the ground, but none burst into polygons. Suddenly, the boss whipped around and sliced upwards, and I saw a figure wearing a red sash come flying towards us.

Corbatz crashed into the ground right outside of the boss room. "Hey!" Kirito shouted, and raced to Corbatz's side. "Hang on, Corbatz!" Corbatz's helmet shattered. He could only make choking noises as Kirito knelt by his side.

"I can't believe it..." Corbatz managed to choke out. His eyes opened wide and his body shattered into polygons. He died.

He died and it was my fault - if I hadn't forced Kirito to give up the map to save me, Corbatz wouldn't be dead. It was all my fault. Again. Someone else died because I couldn't do anything to protect them.

Her face flashed in front of my eyes, her piercing green eyes holding accusation and blame. _...stared at my hiding place as she..._

It was only when Uri gently touched my shoulder that I realized I was staring at the ground and trembling.

Suddenly, Asuna's scream shattered the air. "No!" It was a long, drawn-out scream as she rushed into the room, rapier drawn, to attack the boss. Kirito screamed out her name and lunged forward as well.

Klein sighed. "Ah, what the hell," he muttered. He rushed forward, his guildmates following him.

"What do we do, Boss?" Raph asked quietly. "With them busy in there, we can get out if we have to."

"No!" I snapped. "Nobody else is dying because of me. We need to get the players out." The Horsemen nodded and rushed into the boss room as well. They were following Klein and Fuurinkazan's lead.

I needed to find some way to help as well. Asuna leaped into the air, her rapier flashing out and slamming repeatedly into the boss's back. I glanced at its information; according to the HUD, it was called The Gleam Eyes and her attack...didn't do anything. Shit. Roaring in pain and anger, The Gleam Eyes spun and lashed out with its sword. Asuna glanced off of the claymore and spun in midair; The Gleam Eyes reared back and hit her with a straight punch, sending her flying. Without thinking, I jumped forward, catching her and absorbing some of her momentum as she fell toward the ground. When we landed heavily, she looked down in surprise. "What..."

I grinned weakly. "What can I say, old habits are hard to break. I've got your back on this one, Asuna."

She frowned, but didn't say anything else. Suddenly, the gigantic sword slammed past our bodies and smashed into the floor. I looked up; Kirito was standing in front of us. He had probably managed to shift the strike just enough that it had missed us. "What are you waiting for? Get out!" he screamed. He didn't have to tell me twice; I pulled Asuna to her feet and turned to get out of range.

From behind me, I could hear Kirito screaming in rage. I turned back to see that Kirito had attacked The Gleam Eyes to prevent it from killing the wounded soldiers from Corbatz's party. The soldiers were walking away slowly, supported by the members of Fuurinkazan and the Horsemen, but they were targets - Kirito had probably saved their lives. The Gleam Eyes turned slowly; Kirito had finally gotten its attention. With a blur of metal and flying sparks, I watched helplessly as The Gleam Eyes fought Kirito one on one. They both took damage, but it was still amazing; I was seeing the Black Swordsman at his finest. He blocked a heavy overhead strike with his sword, but I could tell it was still doing damage.

"Kirito!" Asuna cried.

"Get out of there!" Klein shouted.

I gritted my teeth and lunged forward, drawing my trident as I went. Planting one end in the ground, I forced it under the lowest part of the sword and pushed up; my trident had just enough reach that it let Kirito find the strength to knock away the claymore. He turned and ran, not a moment too soon. I pulled out and followed his lead; behind us, the heavy weapon slammed into the ground. "Second time I saved your life now," I panted.

Kirito grinned. "Yeah, but I saved you back in the safe zone. So I only owe you one, now."

After taking a deep breath, I grinned back. "Fair enough," I gasped out. I moved over to see how the Horsemen were doing in getting the players out of danger; it wasn't so good. Fuurinkazan and the Horsemen had only managed to get a few to safety; the majority were still lying on the ground. The Gleam Eyes turned back to the wounded soldiers and I swore under my breath. I stepped forward, intending to attack The Gleam Eyes, but Kirito put his hand out and stopped me.

"Hey Klein, Asuna, listen! I need ten seconds. Keep him off me!" He called out. He looked at me. "Think you can help?"

I sighed. "If it keeps the Horsemen and the others safe, I'm game."

"You got it!" Klein and Asuna rushed forward; as they passed me, I joined in the rush. Klein looked over. "I remember you now! You were the Knight's Angel! That guy who dressed in all white." Hell of a time to bring that up.

I groaned. "Yes, yes, whatever. Can we just focus on not dying, please?" Suddenly, The Gleam Eyes knocked him away with an unexpected backswing. I only barely managed to get out of the way in time, but I was too far away from the boss to help Asuna as she closed in. She sidestepped another strike as she desperately tried to get close enough to attack with her rapier. I couldn't really help all that much; my attacks were usually used to irritate or pick off the weaker enemies, and The Gleam Eyes had me beat when it came to range.

"Okay, I'm ready!" I heard Kirito shout from behind me. Asuna countered the Sword Skill of The Gleam Eyes with her own, knocking it off balance. "Switch out!" We didn't have to be told twice - we jumped out of the way, landing next to Klein. As the boss thrust forward, Kirito parried it with his black sword. With his other hand, he reached out, a blue light forming on his back. Another sword appeared, and he drew it.

He slashed at The Gleam eyes with a Sword Skill, the two swords biting into its flesh and leaving twin red marks down its chest. I heard Klein gasp beside me. "Two?" I didn't say anything; I was too busy staring. The Gleam Eyes tried an overhead smash again, the thing that almost got Kirito the first time; however, this time Kirito crossed his swords and caught the claymore between them. With a scream and a burst of strength, he knocked away the claymore and lunged, leaving more red marks on the boss. I watched the fight in amazement as the Black Swordsman started chewing through the boss's health, fighting it one on one and _winning_. The Gleam Eyes tried another smashing attack, but Kirito dodged to the right and charged a Sword Skill.

"Starburst Stream!" I heard Kirito shout. His black sword licked out to slice the belly as he led into a thrust that ripped upwards with his other sword. Spinning, he sliced the area where the wounds crossed two more times. Bringing his swords together, he left a gigantic gash on the creature's stomach; it roared in pain. Kirito's skill still wasn't finished, as he slashed diagonally in both directions, leaving an X-shaped trail of red lines. He then slashed upwards along those same lines, cutting the boss twice. I watched the health bars drop like a stone - this was the most amazing fight I had ever seen.

"What the hell kind of skill is that?" I heard Klein mutter beside me. I ignored him, watching Kirito's movements. He was amazing, and I couldn't believe I had saved his life twice. He used all of his strength and speed, increasing the rate of attacks. He slashed downwards then led into a straight thrust with his Elucidator as his moves got faster and faster. I could tell he was concentrating as hard as he could to keep his footing and fight as fast as he could. The Gleam Eyes shifted slightly, charging a skill. Kirito spun in midair, using his momentum and the blue sword to parry The Gleam Eyes's claymore. He swapped grips, flipping the swords around and boring into the stomach of The Gleam Eyes. He took a right cross to the face but ignored it; I was starting to get worried. Nothing would stop Kirito now, not even his health. I looked – he was in the yellow zone. Kirito somehow managed to start moving even faster, slashing in every direction with both swords with abandon. The entire Sword Skill hadn't finished yet, and it still looked like a graceful dance. The two fighters traded blows back and forth for what seemed like hours; suddenly, The Gleam Eyes grabbed Kirito's black sword. Its health was in the red on the last bar, but Kirito's health was only a sliver. The Gleam Eyes lunged forward with its claymore – beside me, I saw Klein and Asuna start to race forward.

I was half a second from following them when Kirito ducked under the blow and thrust forward, his left sword piercing deep through the boss. I watched as its health bar drained to zero - its body glowed with blue light and burst into thousands of tiny polygons. He remained still as the results screen appeared and disappeared; however, none of us paid any attention to what we had received. I think I levelled up, though. "Is it...over?" he whispered into the silence. Suddenly, he toppled over backwards; he had passed out.

God. Damn.

Once that happened, Asuna and Klein had managed to shake off their paralyzing surprise and rushed over to see what had happened. "Kirito!" Asuna screamed, as if by calling his name he'd wake up. "Kirito!" When I walked over as well, I could see tears in her eyes; I had never seen her cry before, not even when she threatened to kill me. I mean, you'd think that the second-in-command would feel _something _when she was about to kill me, but nope. Nothing.

Klein walked over next to me. "Thanks for your help out there." I looked over to see the Horsemen standing next to the other members of Fuurinkazan; Gain waved. "The guys said that the Four Horsemen gave everything they had. And you saved Asuna and Kirito." He looked at me thoughtfully. "Maybe those rumors are wrong about you." I felt a small chill run down my spine; I had thought he was just a careless gamer, albeit one good with a katana, but he was sharp.

Before I could think of something to respond to respond to that - remember, my life wasn't in danger - I saw Kirito sit up. He raised a hand to the side of his head. "Man...my head..." He dropped his hand and looked around, probably realizing that he and Asuna were the center of quite a bit of attention. "That was too close..." he said. Asuna rubbed at her eyes. "How long was I out for?"

"Just a few seconds..." Asuna's voice shook. She lunged forward to grab Kirito in a tight embrace. "You reckless...idiot..." She finally lost control and started sobbing into his shoulder.

Kirito gasped, and then smiled. "Jeez, don't hug me so hard. I'll lose the last of my HP."

Klein walked over. "Corbatz and two of his men were the only ones who didn't make it." I gritted my teeth; three people had died because I couldn't help them. I was the cause of their deaths. My fault.

Kirito looked down. "We haven't lost a player in a boss fight since Floor 67..."

"That wasn't a boss fight, that was suicide." There was an odd note to Klein's voice; I couldn't tell if it was admiration, fear, or pent-up emotion. "Corbatz was a damn fool." He waved over to the remaining soldiers. "There's no point to any of this if you die!" He realized how he sounded and shook his head. His smile was back. "You're not off the hook either, Kirito, what the hell'd you do just now?"

Kirito looked at his friend. "I don't think you wanna know."

"Oh come on! I've never seen anything like it before!" Klein exclaimed, waving his hands wildly. Neither had I, although I really only saw player killers. But my point stands, damn it.

Kirito sighed and looked to the side. "It's an extra skill I picked up. Dual Wielding…" Hot damn.

At once, everyone gasped and started shouting questions - how he had unlocked it, what the fighting style was like, things like that. Klein stepped forward. "Dude, are there prerequisites?"

Kirito grinned. "If I knew that, I'd have shared it by now."

Klein pulled up his menu and started scrolling through the skill list. "It's not on the info broker's skill list..." He paused. "Hey, you've got a Unique Skill! Way to stay on the down-low, Kirito." Huh. A Unique Skill? Come to think of it, Heathcliff - the leader of my former guild - had one of those things too. Neat. "How can you keep an awesome secret like that from your buddies?"

Kirito spoke up. "About six months ago, I was scrolling through my skill menu. And it was just... there. Dual Wielding. But..." He looked down. "If anyone else found out I had a skill like this..."

Klein placed a hand on his chin. "They'd get pissed because you had something they didn't."

Mao shifted over near me; the Horsemen had gotten close during the clamor over Kirito's skill. "That was when the Laughing Coffin started up," he murmured in my ear. "A bunch of other red players showed up around then, too." Good to know.

I realized Klein was still talking. "... are like that, but not me." Klein said defensively. "You're right, though. People would definitely be jealous you had that." He leered at Kirito. "And that..."

Asuna was still clinging tightly to Kirito's body. I know people always talked about how cute she was, but to tell the truth, he could keep her. I really didn't want to be murdered today, thanks.

Klein still had a smug grin on his face. "Well, they say your character is built by life's challenges, so keep soldiering on, young man."

Kirito looked to the side. "Easier said than done."

"We're going to go trigger the warp gate." Klein turned to look at me and the Four Horsemen. "You coming?"

My eyes widened and I swore. "What names get put on the monument?" The names of the clearing group got placed on the warp gate in the nearest town. If it was the name of every person in the fight, we had just given away the identities of the Four Horsemen.

Klein grinned. "Just the names of the party leaders." My heart started beating at a normal speed again. Oh, thank gods.

I shook my head. "I can't enter a town, remember?" Klein's eyes flicked up slightly before meeting mine again.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. But your name will still be on the monument, so that's cool, right?" He turned to Kirito. "How about you, buddy?"

Kirito shook his head. "Nah. I'll catch up later. I need to rest for a bit."

"I heard that. Have a safe trip back." Klein started walking away. Before taking more than three steps, he stopped and turned back to Kirito and Asuna. "Oh, by the way... You know how you ran in there, to rescue those Army guys like you did?" Kirito made a sound of confusion. "Well... you know... glad you did." Klein wiped his face. From where I was standing I couldn't see what he was wiping away, but I did see something fall from his hand when he brought it down. Probably a tear. "Anyway, I'll see ya." He waved without looking back. The Four Horsemen and I started walking up the stairs, approaching the newest floor. "Hey. Asmodeus."

I stopped at Klein's voice. "What is it?"

He grinned. "You're not such a bad guy after all. From those rumors, it sounded like you were some angel of death or something. Killing orange players... Why do you do it?"

"I have my reasons." I needed to kill PoH, and the quickest way was to just kill every player killer I came across. Sooner or later I'd get the right one.

"Hey, do you still accept friend requests?" Klein asked. Okay, that was out of left field.

I stopped and stared at him. "...I guess. It's been so long since anybody's actually wanted to friend me that I really haven't thought about it."

Klein grinned. "Mind accepting mine?" At my incredulous stare, he laughed. "You seem like a good guy down under the, you know, murder and everything." I raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I didn't see you protect Asuna and Kirito."

"Oh." I didn't have a response. "Like I told her, old habits die hard." Okay, I lied about the not having a response thing. But it made it seem more emotional, right?

"So what about the old habits of making friends?" Klein pressed. I sighed and accepted his friend request. "Thanks, Asmodeus."

I grimaced. "Just don't use it to track me down, okay? I kinda like not being targeted when I'm out in the field. And for the love of god don't tell Asuna." Just thinking about her having a way to track me was chilling.

Klein grinned. "You got it." He walked up the stairs to the waiting floor, his friends following him.

I just stood there while the Four Horsemen looked at each other. "Well, that was bizarre," I said.

"Why'd he do that?" Gain asked Raph under his breath. I pretended I didn't hear them - they were speaking quietly and it would be rude to say anything.

"I think he recognized someone else who cares about their friends," Raph replied equally as quietly.

Hm. Someone who cares... That was certainly true a long time ago. But was it still true now? I didn't know.

* * *

**I think it's probably clear what happened in the past, but hey, maybe I'm wrong. Who knows.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks goes to **_Alicornation _**and **_JdkLeBleau728 _**for being dedicated reviewers.**


	8. Misunderstandings

**Floor 61: October 23rd, 2024**

* * *

Some times, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Of course, when you get a message from someone you thought you had left far behind telling you they had information for you, you kinda have to get out of bed.

But it still sucked.

So there I was, just sitting down and resting my eyes - no, really, I wasn't asleep. Okay, so maybe I was taking a morning nap. I had stayed up the night before taking extra watch shifts because I wasn't tired enough, alright? C'mon, is that too much to believe?

Anyway, I was roused from my rest by someone shaking my left shoulder. Left... that meant we were safe and there was no rush. So I rolled onto my side and grumbled under my breath. "Nng... Five more minutes..." I was tired enough that I wasn't dreaming - or I wasn't remembering my dreams, at the very least - and I wanted to get as much sleep as possible.

I heard a chuckle. "C'mon, get up." It was Mao. "Raph's got news for you."

I sighed. "It can wait five minutes." I wanted to rest some more.

"Actually..." Mao's voice was serious, and I rolled over to look at him. His face was dark; he was thinking about something. "It can't."

Heaving a theatrical sigh, I sat up. "All right, then." I pushed myself to my feet and brushed myself off. I looked around until I spotted Raph; he was sitting on a rock, tapping away in his menu. "Raph, what's up?"

Raph looked up from his menu. "Big news, Boss." He grinned tightly. "We have an appointment in two hours, so we better get going."

I stared at him in shock. "We have a _what_?" He just grinned at me - damn that poker face of his - and didn't say anything. "Who the hell would want to meet with the five of us?"

"Actually, it's just you and me," Raph said, shaking his head. "The other Horsemen won't be joining us." I raised an eyebrow, and he noticed. "Trust me, Boss, we'll be fine." He smiled. "There's nothing to worry about."

I sighed and looked around; the other three Horsemen were watching us. "Are you three okay with this?" With luck, they'd throw a fit and then Raph would have no choice but to renegotiate with whoever we were meeting. In the meantime, I'd be able to get some more sleep.

Gain shrugged good-naturedly, and Mao nodded. I looked at Uri, and she sighed. "I trust Raph, and you're good enough at hiding to escape if things get rough." My face fell; so much for my extra five minutes.

I stood up. "Well, looks like I'm outvoted." Raph stood up as well with a small smile and I waved him over. "Lead the way."

He grinned. "I'm glad you saw reason, Boss." I mimed taking a swing at him and he ducked away, laughing. "I mean, I could have just dragged you there kicking and screaming, but what kind of example would that set?"

I laughed. "The noble Fallen Angel, being dragged along like a stubborn child." What an image, right? Even though I'm nothing even close to noble.

We walked for a while, slowly making our way toward the nearest town. We didn't get attacked by any monsters or players, so it was a fairly relaxed trip. Fortunately, the floor we were on - the 61st Floor - was based on a fairly flat area, with only a few trees here and there. It even had a few NPCs farming in the distance, and I knew that if we went up to them they'd have a few quests for us. Of course, we were far beyond the level where we could trigger them; we were all level 80-something, and the quests were locked to anybody above level 70. I had actually hit level 90 just a little bit ago, so I was feeling on top of the world.

As we got close to the town, Raph glanced at me. "Well, we're almost there. Ready, Boss?"

I nodded. "We should be okay. Since the person contacted you, they know who we are." Suddenly, I frowned. "Hey, wait a second. Who are we-"

"Heyyyy!"

I glared at Raph. "You set me up you piece of -" But we were there, and I couldn't really continue ranting without losing face. "...hey, Serra."

Serra grinned at the two of us. "Nice to see you again, guys. How're things?"

I just folded my arms and watched Raph, forcing him to take the lead in the conversation.

Me, petty? Nah, couldn't be.

Raph just chuckled. "We're doing well, Serra. I must say, I was surprised when I got your message. You seem to be doing excellent in your new guild."

She grinned. "The Knights of the Blood are super nice!" So she managed to get in. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; Heathcliff was the type of person that looked for skill rather than personality, after all. It wasn't a stretch to think that my name still held weight with him. I took a closer look at Serra and realized the clues had been right in front of me.

She was wearing a new uniform; that weird green armor was gone. She had a new breastplate in the crimson color typical of the Knights of the Blood, along with some new greaves and gauntlets. All of them were in the same red color, meaning they were from the same set. Her outfit wasn't all red, though, thanks to some white trim on the shoulders and gauntlets. She also had these two _things_ - I don't know what they were called, but they looked like leg capes, almost like a skirt that had been sliced in half. They had some pockets on the side, probably for holding crystals or throwing picks. It was actually kinda intimidating. The crimson and white really suited her.

She had some new weapons, too - I saw the hilt of a new sword on her back as well as a shield on her arm. It had some jewels inlaid in a pattern, but from where I was standing I couldn't make it out.

I snorted. "What did you want, Serra? You're very pretty in your new clothes" - What? She was! - "but I don't think that's why you're here." It's not like I could get her into another guild or anything.

Serra glared at me. "No need to be an ass. I just wanted to tell you something." She folded her arms. "But maybe I won't, since you don't seem to want to listen."

I had opened my mouth to say something I probably would have regretted when Raph dug his elbow into my side. I winced automatically despite the lack of pain. "Again with the ribs? C'mon, Raph, I thought we were friends," I hissed.

"Apologize," he whispered back. "I think this is important."

Come to think about it, a player in a big-time guild was taking a huge risk meeting with an orange player, no matter the reason. I turned to Serra. "...Sorry," I grudgingly apologized. "I'm tired." Serra glared at me for a few more seconds before sighing and waving away my apology. "So what is it you wanted to tell me?"

Serra looked around furtively before leaning in slightly. "You're hunting player killers, right?" I nodded; that was correct. "I think someone from my guild was talking to a guy like that." My eyes widened; we hadn't had a lead on any player killers for a long time. They had died down after the brutal attack on Laughing Coffin had shown that the guilds meant business about stopping PKers. My brutal murder of the six or seven Laughing Coffin members I got my hands on hadn't hurt, either, once the story got out.

"Where did you see this?" Raph demanded.

"I was out training with some of the others," Serra said. "I got a little separated from them while we were fighting some monsters - they broke and ran while I stayed back and killed what I could." Impressive; she was a better fighter than I thought if she could handle multiple enemies. "After I cleared out the mobs, I was wandering around a bit, looking for the rest of my group, when I stumbled into a private meeting."

I frowned. "So who are we dealing with?"

"I'm getting to that," Serra said. "Anyway, I hid behind a tree and listened in on their conversation. It basically went like, 'Do you want revenge on that Beater?', 'Yes I do! Show me how, master!' 'Poison him, then stab repeatedly in the chest. Make sure to laugh like a crazy while doing it.'" She really used different voices there, too; one was higher, one was lower. I couldn't help but laugh. "Anyway, I recognized one voice. His name is Kuradeel, and he's a player in the Knights of the Blood." Kuradeel? Name didn't ring a bell. Serra described him to me and Raph, but I still didn't recognize him. He probably joined after I left.

Raph hummed in thought. "Haven't heard of him. Do you know anything about the guy he was talking to?"

Serra shook her head. "I didn't manage to get a glimpse of his face. I only managed to see him for a brief second before I hid, and he left almost immediately after he finished talking to Kuradeel."

"Think," Raph urged her. "Any information could be useful. What he wore, any unusual marks, his weapon, anything."

Serra tilted her head and gazed off into space for a bit. "Hm... he had a green cloak on, so I didn't see his face or his equipment."

I sighed. "Damn. Nothing. It might not even be a player killer, just some thief."

"Oh!" Serra exclaimed. Her face suddenly lit up; she must have remembered something. "He had this weird tattoo on his hand. I couldn't make it out, but it was definitely black and white. Almost like the Laughing Coffin tattoo." My heart stopped beating.

Okay, not literally, but it felt like it.

"Are you sure?!" I grabbed Serra by the shoulders and shook her. "You're certain it was the Laughing Coffin logo?"

"N-no," Serra stammered out. "But it was really similar."

I let her go and started pacing. "If it was the Laughing Coffin logo, then it has to be a player killer." So we were on the job. "But I think they were all rounded up in that raid..." My head snapped up and I stared at Raph. "Except one!"

PoH. That bastard. We had found him.

Thinking back on it now, I got _really _lucky – I jumped to a conclusion with almost nothing to back it up, and somehow I was right.

I turned back to Serra; she shuddered slightly, and I realized my expression was probably manic. "So, Serra, where is this Kuradeel?" My voice was extremely calm - it probably sounded like I was bordering insanity. I mean, I kinda was, but that's besides the point.

She thought for a second. "I think he's going on a mission on the 55th Floor later today. Something about training and burying the hatchet, from what I heard Godfree ranting about."

A small grin tugged at my lips. "I remember Godfree. Is he still doing that fist pump thing?" He would always shout 'hoorah' or something like that when he got excited.

She giggled. "Yep." Good to know that my absence wasn't affecting anybody's life or anything. God forbid I made a difference, right? Heh.

"Neat." I turned away. "Alright, Raph, we've gotta get going." I needed to grab the extra Corridor Crystal from Uri so that we could all get to the 55th Floor in time. "Bye, Serra."

"Bye! I'd come along but I have a guild thing," she called out; I glanced back to see her waving for a bit before leaving. The second she was out of sight, Raph and I exchanged glances and then burst into a dead sprint. We needed to get to the 55th Floor as soon as possible.

We sprinted into the camp. While I was busy pulling Uri aside and getting the Corridor Crystal from her, Raph was explaining everything to Gain and Mao. When I returned to the rest of the group, I took in their appearances and grinned to myself. They were all ready for battle, preparing themselves for the hunt; we weren't going to be hunting PoH down today, but it was only a matter of time. Kuradeel talked to him; he would know where PoH was hiding and he'd tell me.

He'd tell me or I'd kill him.

I held the crystal up in the air. "Corridor open!" I shouted. Uri had programmed it with the coordinates to the main settlement of Floor 55, Granzam; it doubled as the Knights of the Blood headquarters, so Kuradeel and his party would be leaving from there. The crystal shattered and a portal appeared in front of us, shimmering in the air. "Let's go," I growled. I was impatient to get to Kuradeel, to find him, to ask him oh so politely where to find PoH.

Yes, I was obsessed. No, I didn't care.

* * *

**Floor 55: October 23rd, 2024**

We exited the portal by the south entrance to Granzam, a large foreboding iron gate; just looking at the damn thing made me shudder. But we didn't have time for sightseeing. As soon as they were out of the gate, the Horsemen were off, scattering to the four entrances of Granzam. Once one of them spotted Kuradeel, they'd blend into the crowd and message me; from there, I'd bounce the message and we'd all make our way to the Horseman that spotted Kuradeel. We'd used this trick before, covering all the exits with sheer manpower. Of course, that only worked in places with defined exits; on a floor like Floor 61, the main town was super open and only had a fence to mark the end of the safe zone.

So it was time to wait. I just stayed where I was, playing a quiet game of solitaire, trying to ignore the passing time. If I thought about it, or checked the time, it would pass slower. I was on my fifth game when I received a message from Gain. I scooped up my cards and triggered my «Hiding» skill, making my way to the west. As I went, I messaged the rest of the Horsemen - the only thing in the message was Gain's name. They knew that meant the west exit; if it had been Uri, Mao, or Raph they would have headed to the north, south, or east respectively.

I was the second person to arrive - Mao was already standing next to Gain, just inside the safe zone. They were chatting animatedly, looking for the world like two friends waiting for the rest of their party to show up before they set off on a dungeon run.

I mean, that's what they were, so I guess it makes sense they looked like that. But I don't think normal people watched other parties out of the corner of their eyes; Mao and Gain had Kuradeel and whomever he was with under constant supervision. I glanced at the two white-clad figures by the gate - one I recognized, Godfree, and the other I didn't. By studying various minute movements of the second player, coupled with several impressive deductions, clues, and use of higher-level mathematics - and, you know, remembering what Serra had told me, as well as using the process of elimination - I guessed that the second player was Kuradeel.

I'm a super genius, I know.

Anyway, Raph was the last one to show up. It made sense - he had to travel through the entirety of Granzam. Anyway, by the time he showed up we had all been waiting for a few minutes. He joined the other Horsemen in their conversation, all of them subtly watching Godfree and Kuradeel. It was almost impressive, in a way; they were all watching their target without being obvious about it.

I was so proud of my team. They'd learned so well.

Suddenly, Gain froze; speaking urgently, he leaned in to the Horsemen and said something. The others all blanched and did their best to not look behind them - I had no idea what had spooked them, but it was definitely something bad. The Horsemen walked outside of the safe zone, still pretending to be this small group of friends on a dungeon run until they were out of eyeshot. I followed them, naturally, and the second they were out of sight of Granzam's entrance they all heaved a huge sigh. "What happened?" I asked.

They weren't even surprised by my phantom voice anymore. Shame; I used to terrify Uri with that trick. "Gain saw Kirito," Mao reported. My eyes widened and I swore. What was he doing? I had heard about the duel with Heathcliff and its aftermath - everyone had - but why was he going on a training run with two guild members? He killed a boss alone! Well, mostly alone, but it's not like I did anything to help out.

I shook my head. I could worry about that later. "It doesn't change anything. We stick to the plan - shadow Kuradeel until he's alone, then grab him." Hadn't Serra said something about why Kuradeel was talking with PoH? It was just out of reach, but I figured I'd remember it later if it was important.

Raph looked worried. "Are you sure, Boss? I mean, this is _Kirito_ we're talking about. The Black Swordsman, the Dual Wielder..."

I snorted. "He could be a god of death for all I give a damn. All that matters is getting to PoH." See my previous comment regarding obsession and my lack of giving a fuck. "If Kirito gets in our way, just take him down like you would any other obstacle." Which, to them, meant paralyzing or neutralizing him; that was, of course, after he attacked them first. I was the only one that attacked green players and killed. I looked around and noticed the Horsemen still looking kinda dubious; with a sigh, I tried to think quickly. "Look, Kirito's not a god, alright? He's human, just like us - the duel with Heathcliff showed us that - and he'll be just as susceptible to a poisoned throwing pick in the neck as the next guy." After they chuckled uneasily, the Horsemen all murmured some sort of agreement - Raph's being the most reluctant, Gain's being the least - and I grinned. Not that they'd see it, but hey, whatever. "Alright, let's get going. I want you guys masked and hidden the whole time."

"We know," Uri moaned. "It's not like we haven't done this before or anything, right?"

I flushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to repeat myself." Maybe I was a little worried. Huh. "Well, you all know the drill. If necessary, take down Godfree and Kirito." My voice dropped slightly in pitch; I wanted to impress the seriousness of my orders on them. "Kuradeel is mine." I didn't want them to have to get their hands dirty. "On the move!"

We all triggered our «Hiding» skills, disappearing one by one. Eventually, the only way to see them at all was by having «Searching» active, not that it was pleasant to do that by any means - that green filter was gross. But it was necessary. Moving as quietly as we could - which was in Uri's case silent and in ours relatively quietly - we followed Godfree, Kuradeel, and Kirito.

It wasn't a fun way to spend a morning, of course; shadowing a regular player had none of the thrill of hunting a murdering bastard and all of the danger of getting caught. Fortunately, though, the monsters in this area hunted by sight and so we were pretty much safe from them. Eventually, the three players entered a dusty stone ravine, and we followed them in; I glanced at the clock on my screen to see that it was almost lunchtime. I was hungry, but there wasn't going to be any rest for us until Kuradeel was in our hands. Of course, if they stopped for lunch we could probably spring our trap then and be done with it - their guards would be down and we'd have the added bonus of surprise.

At least, that's what Mao said the last time we were trying to ambush someone. He was the strategist here, not me.

"This looks like a good place to take a break," I heard Godfree announce. The Horsemen and I exchanged a round of glances, and we picked up the pace slightly. We had been hanging back before, partially to maintain a safe distance and partially to make sure we didn't grab any of the monsters' aggro, but if they were taking their lunch break it was time to strike. "Chow time, ladies."

I couldn't help but grin. "Same old Godfree," I murmured. He always was energetic; even when he had been about to face a bonus boss with me, he never lost that grin.

We rounded the corner of the ravine to see the three Knights of the Blood members sitting around on flat bits of stone. Kirito was on the left, while Kuradeel was just to his right. I could see Godfree on a different stone from the two, facing them. I pointed at Gain and Uri, and they nodded; carefully picking their way over to Godfree, they silently stood beside him. He had no clue, the poor guy. Raph was crouched beside Kirito, ready to stop him from interfering, and Mao was standing by to make sure Kuradeel wouldn't run. I would appear in the center, out of nowhere, and then we'd see what happened. It was a great plan.

So of course it all went to hell.

Kirito pulled something out of a bag Godfree had tossed him while we were getting into position - it looked like a water bottle. I noticed that Kuradeel and Godfree each had a similar bag - it was probably a lunch they had all packed. I wondered who packed it. Godfree and Kirito took a swig from their bottles, but for some reason Kuradeel just sat there, watching them. He had this small smirk on his face.

Hey, wait a second. I suddenly remembered - didn't Serra say Kuradeel wanted revenge on 'that Beater'?

...oh, _shit_!

Kirito suddenly threw the water away, letting it shatter on the ground. Godfree just slumped forward and toppled off of the rock, the water suddenly falling from his limp hands, while Kirito fell back onto the stone; they had all been poisoned. Kuradeel stood up - he was only chuckling at first, but soon he was in a full-blown fit of hysteria, giggling and laughing maniacally. Oh, good. He was loving this shit.

Godfree looked up at him. "The hell's going on? You packed the water, Kuradeel..." So it really was poison. I looked left and right at the Four Horsemen; they were watching me, waiting for me to make a move. But I couldn't make a move yet - Kuradeel was still just a green player, and I refused to kill. My damn morals. "What'd you do? You bastard!" Kirito gasped something about antidote crystals, and Godfree started trying to reach into his pockets.

Kuradeel leaped into the air and kicked out, knocking the shining green crystal from Godfree's hand. "Poor, sad old Godfree. I always knew you were a colossal idiot." That's not... well, he was... okay, yeah, he was an idiot. "But this proves you're even dumber than I thought." He chuckled and drew his sword, the metal scraping on the sheath.

Godfree's eyes widened. "Don't do this!" he managed to gasp out. Suddenly, Kuradeel raised his sword and slashed forward, cutting into Godfree's back. As Godfree's health drained, Kuradeel's cursor color changed from a bright green to a sullen orange.

My lips parted in a fierce grin; he'd shown his true intentions, and he meant to kill. Those who tried to kill couldn't complain when they were killed, after all.

As he continued to hack away at Godfree, Kuradeel grinned like a madman and rambled on about how he was going to play the hero after killing the other two. I waved Gain and Uri back to make sure that Godfree wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, and then turned off my «Hiding» skill. "Hello, Kuradeel," I said. My voice was dark and dangerous, though my expression was calm and a small grin was on my face.

He whipped around in shock; I'm sure that to him, I just appeared out of nowhere. "What the?"

Kirito's eyes widened. "Asmodeus? What are you doing here?"

I ignored Kirito's question for the time being. "Kuradeel, you've been busy. Talking to orange players, learning how to poison water..." I chuckled. "And now you're trying to complete the trifecta and murder another player." My eyes narrowed, though I didn't lose my small grin. "I'm sure you've heard of me. I am the Fallen Angel."

Kuradeel laughed. "Oh, yes, I've heard of you. _He_ told me to expect you." I clenched my fist; PoH knew about me? All to the better. "But you're too late!" He thrust forward with his sword, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. The sword slid deep into Godfree's back, and his cries of agony ceased suddenly. His form shimmered and shattered into blue polygons.

Again.

Again, I couldn't save anybody. Even when I was only a foot away I couldn't do anything.

Kuradeel turned back to me. "Oh, what's the matter? Sad you couldn't save your friend?" He was clearly insane, his eyes burning with madness. "I've just killed an innocent bystander. What will you do, mister Angel?" He called me an Angel? I'd be his goddamn Angel of Death.

I stared at the spot where Godfree had been just seconds before, motionless. Then, slowly, I started to chuckle. The chuckles turned into full laughter, which quickly transitioned to an insane laugh that shook my body. Kuradeel took a step back, and I looked at him, smiling wildly. "You are a fool, Kuradeel. Before, I would have simply asked you a few questions, healed the other two, and been on my way." My shoulders shook with laughter and my words were broken by the occasional hysterical giggle. "But now? Now, you're a murderer." I stopped laughing. "And now you're going to die!" I roared.

In an instant, I drew my trident and lashed out at him. Kuradeel parried the blow hurriedly, but he wasn't ready for my attack; his sword was knocked far away from being able to counter. I just spun on my heel and slammed the butt of my trident into his stomach. The blow threw Kuradeel back, and he slammed into the wall of the ravine. I stood up and snapped my fingers; the Horsemen appeared and closed in on Kuradeel. "Make sure he can't do anything," I said. "I need to ask him a few questions."

I stalked close to him and Kuradeel spat in my face. "Like hell I'm going to tell you anything."

"Really?" I said almost absently. "That's interesting." I drew my knife and stabbed him in the gut. "I can kill you right now, if you want. If you answer my questions, I might just let you live." I stabbed him again, in the arm this time. "So, do you want to die, Kuradeel?" He whimpered slightly and I laughed. "Oh, come on. You can't tell me you didn't see this coming. Killers run the risk of being killed in turn - it's how the world works." I cut his cheek with the knife, leaving a red gash across his face; his health was dropping rapidly, but it was still in the yellow zone. "So tell me, where can I find PoH?"

"I don't know!" he babbled. "I don't know, I swear I don't!" I pressed the knife just over his heart, and I think he started sobbing. "He told me where to meet him and that's all I did! He just showed me how to poison the water! I swear I'm telling the truth!"

I sighed; another potential lead gone. PoH was clever. "Damn it... watch him for me, Gain. Everyone else, stand easy. We're leaving soon."

I grabbed the green crystal Kuradeel had knocked from Godfree's hand and picked it up. Where he was slumped, Kirito watched Kuradeel sobbing against the wall. "Someone like you belongs in a murder guild," he spat.

I chuckled as I walked over. "You're not far off. If we look hard enough, it's a good bet we'll find a Laughing Coffin mark." I knelt down, using my trident as a crutch. "Are you all right?"

He grinned. "For a killer, you seem to make a habit of saving my life. This is the third time now, I think."

I laughed. "But you saved me from Asuna and the Army what, a week ago? I think that means you only owe me two, now." I was about to raise the crystal and heal him when I heard something in the distance. I straightened up and looked around. "The hell is that?" The sound got closer and closer; it was moving extremely quickly. Suddenly, a figure rounded the corner and closed in on me in a heartbeat. "Oh, mother of shi-"

My curse was cut off as Asuna's rapier slammed into my stomach and I was sent flying. I was actually airborne until I slammed into the ravine wall, several yards from Kirito, and cried out in pain. I slumped to the ground, the wind knocked out of me - the Horsemen came running over to check on me, with the exception of Gain; he stayed next to Kuradeel and kept his sword at the ready. I heard a crystal shatter and I realized Asuna had used the healing crystal on Kirito. Well, that was good; he was safe. One less thing to worry about.

I staggered to my feet to see Asuna holding Gain at rapier point. "Step away from Kuradeel," she said. Her voice was level and deadly; Gain glanced at me, and I hesitated. If I pulled Gain back, nothing would stop Kuradeel from attacking Asuna and Kirito. But if I left him there, Asuna would kill him... "Call Conquest back, Asmodeus. Now!" she snapped.

I gritted my teeth; I wasn't going to let her do this. "I know this looks bad, Asuna, but I'm saving Kirito's life!" I shouted. I needed to use my trident to support myself - my legs were still trembling from the force of Asuna's attack, and my health was in the yellow zone. "Kuradeel poisoned them both and- and-"I coughed, clearing my throat. "And he was going to kill them!" Of course I was stuttering a little bit – I was still reeling from getting stabbed in the stomach.

She didn't listen to a word I had said – between the word of an orange player and what she saw, her observations overruled anything I tried to tell her. "I thought you had changed..." she said. "When you helped us on the 74th Floor, I thought you were back to your old self." So that's why she didn't kill me. Because she had promised to kill the Fallen Angel, not the Knight's Angel. "But I guess I was wrong." She pressed the rapier to Gain's throat. "Pull him back, or I will kill him right here and now."

I swore. Asuna was hell-bent on killing me because she thought I was attacking her guild. "Damn it... Conquest, get back here."

"Are you sure, Boss?" he asked. He glanced at Kuradeel, who was doing a remarkably good imitation of some poor victim. "If I go now, then -"

"Do as I say!" I shouted, cutting him off. He jerked back in shock, then reluctantly sheathed his sword. He walked over to me and joined the other Horsemen by my side. I stepped forward to confront Asuna. "So, you're determined to kill me?"

"You remember what I said, don't you?" She slashed the air with her rapier and dropped into a fighting stance. "The next time I saw you, I'd kill you."

I sighed. "Fine. Just promise me one thing." I stepped forward and spread my arms wide, dropping my trident and leaving myself wide open with no way to dodge or defend myself. "Let the Horsemen go. They're only in this to help me. Once I'm gone, they'll go back to their normal life."

"Asmodeus, what are you doing?!" Uri shouted. "Are you just going to let her kill you?"

I glanced back and grinned at her. "I'm just an orange player. Compared to you four, my life is pretty useless." If I could just save them, that would be enough. I wouldn't be able to find PoH, but at least nobody else would die because of me.

Those who kill run the risk of being killed, after all.

I turned back to see Asuna watching me with a strange look. "What are you waiting for? Kill me!" I shouted. "Damn you, Asuna, don't lose your nerve and fucking kill me!"

Asuna gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry, Asmodeus. You were a good teammate." She drew back to lunge toward me, and I closed my eyes in anticipation of the killing blow.

"Stop it, Asuna!"

My eyes snapped open, and I saw Kirito grabbing Asuna's arm. "He's telling the truth. Kuradeel is the one who killed Godfree."

Asuna blinked. "What?" She took a closer look at Kuradeel and gasped. "His cursor, it's orange!" Kirito stepped back and started going through his menu. I didn't know what he was looking for; he was probably going for a warp crystal or something.

I sagged back and grabbed my trident. I probably wasn't going to die today. "I couldn't stop him from killing Godfree, but I got what I needed out of him. I was about to heal Kirito when you showed up."

Asuna turned around. "Kirito, is this true?"

Unfortunately, at that moment all eyes were off Kuradeel. He grabbed his sword and attacked Asuna instantly, knocking her rapier away and dropping her HP to low in the red zone. My eyes widened. "Die, bitch!" He raised his sword high and swung.

I was too far away to do anything; the Horsemen were even further.

But Kirito made it in time.

Just before Kuradeel's sword cut through Asuna, Kirito dashed in front of her, his arm raised. Instead of killing Asuna, the only damage done was to Kirito; his hand was sliced off just above the wrist. We all stood frozen for a second, gaping at the incredible action that had just taken place - all of us, except Kirito. With a scream of rage, he drew back his right hand and thrust forward, stabbing deep into Kuradeel's body with the glowing hand. Kuradeel jerked back as his health dropped to zero, and sank to his knees. "Damn you... you murdered me..." he whispered. His form shuddered and burst apart; Kirito collapsed to his knees.

I turned and sheathed my trident, waving to the Four Horsemen. They started walking away; I started to follow them, but stopped. "Kirito." I turned to look at him. "I'm sorry you had to get your hands dirty. I never intended you to get involved in this." With that said, I turned and walked away.

* * *

Lost in my own thoughts, I mindlessly followed the Four Horsemen without paying much attention; I trusted them to keep watch, naturally. I was pathetic, useless. No matter what I did, people kept dying around me. Godfree, Corbatz, everyone... I couldn't save them. But I had to keep trying, right? What use was I if I couldn't save everyone I could? That's why I existed, after all; to take all the pain and suffering of killing another person and prevent others from having to deal with it. Because that's what I needed to do to help people now that I couldn't help in the sun. Shadows were where I belonged.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I looked over to see Uri walking next to me. "Hey, Uri," I mumbled. "What's up?"

"You doing alright, Boss?" she asked. "I know it bugs you when people die."

I smiled wanly. "I'll live." I looked away. "Which is more than for you can say for Godfree." Kuradeel deserved it, though. Bastard. "Really, Uri, I'm fine," I said when I noticed her frown. I'd be okay after I slept it off. Probably. Maybe. Pretty sure I'd be fine.

"All right..." She didn't seem convinced, but let the matter drop anyway. For the rest of the trip back to Granzam - we needed to pick up another Corridor Crystal for quick travel - I walked alone and was left alone with my thoughts. Of course, the thing was, those thoughts were a little happier than they were before; I was planning out what would happen when I finally found PoH. Good times.

Suddenly, the Four Horsemen stopped. Startled, I looked up and frowned in confusion. "Hey, what's... oh." So much for happy thoughts. "Hi, Serra."

She looked up and waved. "Hi, everyone." She looked at our faces and frowned. "I guess something didn't go too well..."

Mao shook his head and sighed. "We got what we wanted, but it wasn't really anything. Kuradeel didn't know anything at all."

She sighed. "So what happened?"

"Do you really want to know?" I asked. She nodded, and I sighed. "He killed Godfree, Kirito killed him." She gasped, and I shrugged. "You wanted to know."

Serra watched us for a bit. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask. What's your origin story?"

I blinked in surprise. "Wait, you know comic books but not kid's movies? Your childhood was fucked up." Serra glared at me. "But I totally know what you mean. Well..." I crossed my arms. "I suppose it's not a big deal if you know about the Horsemen. Let's find a place to sit down." Once we had found a small clearing off the main road, I waved at Gain, giving him the go-ahead.

Gain nodded and turned to Serra. "We were in a party with a couple of our friends - there were seven of us in total. Me, the other three Horsemen, and our friends. We were all pretty close. Anyway, we were all adventuring one day when we heard a scream. Because we were such great people," he said with bitterness coating his voice, "we didn't hesitate at all but rushed right over to help them out. We were stupid enough to rush in blindly, trying to help. We thought we were defending a helpless player, but we were ambushed by a large group of orange players. All of us were paralyzed, and there was nothing we could do. One by one, my friends died."

I sighed. "That's when I showed up. I'd been tracking the group of PKers for a while, and I did my best to save the Horsemen and their friends. Of course, I'm only one person, so I couldn't act recklessly." I grimaced. "I used poisoned throwing darts to stun all of the player killers, and then started slaughtering. I managed to kill them all, but the only ones I managed to save were the Horsemen."

"Oh..." Serra said. "So you guys are just like me, huh?"

Mao nodded. "More or less. Eventually, the only one left was the green player that had lured us there. Boss was about to kill her when another player showed up. Asuna."

I chuckled darkly. "She and I had worked together occasionally while I was still in the Knights of the Blood. We got along well enough, I guess. But when she showed up, that Lure begged her for help. Asuna told me not to kill the Lure, that she'd go to jail and never hurt anyone again. I didn't listen." I paused, remembering the way it felt to kill a green player. It didn't really feel like anything, just another death to weigh against my debts. "Asuna was absolutely furious, but we had both been in the same guild once; that counted for enough, I guess. She said that if she ever saw me again, she'd kill me without hesitation. Something about the sanctity of life, how everyone deserved to live. In her eyes, I was finally that cold-blooded murderer the rumors made me out to be."

Uri continued the story. "After that, Boss ran off into the forest. The four of us that were left from that group talked amongst ourselves and eventually followed him. We told him that we'd help him out with whatever he needed us to do, that it was the least we could do to pay him back for saving us. The only thing he asked us to do was to get him some more supplies from the next town, as well as track down some more PKers for him." She smiled. "We figured that we'd join up with him and hunt PKers too. So far, it's been pretty fun."

Serra looked at her. "But why would Asuna kill you?"

Uri shrugged. "Jealousy, maybe?" She shot a look at me, and I flushed. "Kidding, Boss. Besides, I don't think those three swing that way." I think my face was burning. "In all seriousness, it's probably because we were aiding and abetting a known criminal or something like that." Uri noticed our sudden stares. "Hey, try reading a law-book some time. You might improve your vocab."

"Uri's sudden transform into a lawyer aside," I said, "that's pretty much everything about it. I showed up like a big damn hero, saved the day, and got myself in deeper shit." I laughed. "So, basically a normal day."

"What about _you_?" Serra asked me suddenly.

"What _about_ me?"

Serra glared at me. "You. Asmodeus. What's your story? I get these guys, but you're still the unknown here."

I raised an eyebrow. "And if I choose not to tell you?" Serra rolled her shoulders, and her sword clattered in its scabbard threateningly. "Okay, I get the picture. God damn you're stubborn, aren't you?"

"One of my many traits," Serra replied with a grin. "I'm cute, too."

Raph coughed. "Not that watching this flirting isn't amusing, but I'd rather not be here all day waiting for Asuna and Kirito to catch up with us."

"We aren't flirting!" Serra and I shouted at him simultaneously.

No, really, I'm not kidding. Look, believe it or not, but it really happened. It's not just a TV joke.

I sighed. "Fine, whatever. Rather not get stabbed today." I grumbled under my breath for a few seconds, muttering about swords and people too quick to use them. "Well, I guess like everything else it all started at one when the SAO servers started up..."

* * *

**You wanted backstory, you're getting it. Eventually.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks goes to** _Alicornation_** and** _skyrumen818 _**for being dedicated reviewers.**


	9. Origins

Well, I guess like everything else it all started when the SAO servers went up.

* * *

...Actually, rewind a few years, back to middle school. That's when it all _really_ started, I think.

See, I know it might be strange to realize this, but back in middle school I was a bully, plain and simple. And I'm talking real bullying, like beating kids up for shits and giggles and then taking their money. It helped that I was big for my age - though by this point everyone else has caught up - and pretty strong too. Nobody could really stand up to me, and so I just kinda went through middle school hurting people whenever I felt like it. It's not like I felt any remorse or anything, even though I'm not proud of what I did now.

But high school was different; without realizing it, something had changed. It wasn't me, and it wasn't my targets - that whole thing still stayed the same. But someone else was introduced to the picture.

One day, I was occupied beating up one of the students not in my class when someone shouted at me from behind. "Leave him alone!" I stopped, absolutely dumbfounded - if anyone makes a joke about being dumb, I'm punching them - that someone would stand up to me; it hadn't happened for three and a half years, so why now? I turned around, fist falling to my side, to see a girl standing there, glaring at me with her hands on her hips. She brushed right past me and went to check up on the kid I had been punching. "Are you okay?" The kid nodded and ran, taking advantage of the fact that I was just kinda standing there.

"What the hell's your problem?" I demanded. "Don't you know who I am?"

I swear, she turned around and glared at me, eyes blazing. "I know you're a bully who has nothing better to do than to beat people for no real reason. And I know you're better than that." My jaw dropped; nobody had ever said _anything_ like that to me before, probably because they knew I'd hurt them. She brushed by me again, walking away and leaving me alone. For some reason she wasn't concerned that I would hurt her.

For a while I stood there, confused and not really knowing what just happened. After a bit, I walked home and started doing my homework - I wasn't the best student, but I managed to do about average on everything. After struggling with it for several minutes, I gave up on one of the harder math problems; for some reason, I just didn't get what we were talking about in class.

The next day, I was tired for some reason - I just didn't get enough sleep, I guess - when that girl walked into my classroom. My eyes widened, and I stared without realizing it; I hadn't known she was in my class. She sat down a few seats in front of me and to my right, and I tried to put her out of my mind - I really needed to pay attention to the teacher during this class. But for some reason, my eyes kept being drawn to her; she was the only one in a while who had stood up to me, and I wanted to know why.

So I watched her during class instead of paying attention to the teacher. She was pretty, with warm green eyes and long black hair; she had plenty of friends, people who would pass her notes or talk to her during our breaks; and she was definitely smart, answering any question the teacher asked her. I didn't understand why I was watching her - probably because she was the only person to ever stand up to me.

Then she turned around and caught me staring. I blinked, and looked away, but not before I could see her smile. I wasn't sure why she smiled, but I didn't really want to know; if word got out that a girl had stood up to me, well... That wouldn't end well for anybody.

At lunch, I was preparing to eat alone, like usual, when someone dragged a chair over and sat next to me. I blinked in surprise - it was the girl. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she sat down and started eating her own lunch. I just stared, not really sure what had happened, and eventually just started eating my own lunch. There wasn't really anything I could do about it; I refused to hit a girl. I had standards, even if it didn't look like it back then. When she finished, she sat back and sighed. "Ah, that was good."

I looked at her. "Why? What's your problem?"

"Hm?" She looked at me. "What are you talking about?"

"First you get in my way, and now you're trying to eat lunch with me?" I sighed. "Seriously, what's your problem?"

She giggled. "Oh, no problem. I just feel like eating here." She grinned at me. "But just so you know, I'll be keeping an eye on you. You're not going to be hurting someone while I'm around." I was amazed; so she was going to be following me around and stopping me every time I was going to hurt someone? That made no sense, and I told her that. She just smiled at me. "Well, someone's got to keep an eye on you, so why not me?"

Sure enough, she kept her word; any time I was going to pick a fight with someone, she'd be there, either distracting me and dragging me away or just flat-out standing in front of my target. Eventually, I got tired of this routine and glared at her. "Why do you keep doing this?"

She sighed. "Well, I figure that everyone deserves a second chance, right? So maybe you get into fights now, but I think you can change." She leaned in close, and I took a step back automatically. "So I'm making sure you change, got it?"

Despite myself, I smiled; it had been a long time since someone proved that they cared about what I did. "...Got it." From that point on, I actually tried to change, tried to be someone that that girl could be proud of. All because she proved that she cared about me enough to put herself in harm's way. Eventually, I managed to get over my anger issues - just in time, too, because everyone else caught up to my height, and some even surpassed me. If I had still been picking fights, I might have gotten seriously hurt.

* * *

Time passed.

"Emi, I need help," I called out plaintively.

She looked over and smiled at me. "With what? Math again?"

I sighed. "I just don't get it."

Emi walked over and sat next to me, leaning comfortably against my shoulder. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and started explaining from the top again. I pretty much ignored her words, choosing instead to watch her smile and the way she waved her hands as she talked. She noticed me watching her, and sighed. "Look, you're never going to get this if you don't pay attention!"

"How can I, when you're here?" I asked; Emi flushed and playfully smacked my arm. "Fine, fine, I'll listen. So how does the -"

"Hey, you two!" We looked up to see a classmate standing in the doorway to the class, carrying some boxes. "Can you give us a hand moving these things?"

"Sure," I called out, getting up immediately. I had come a long way from my middle school days, when I wouldn't lift a finger to help someone else. Emi really had changed me, though she said it was all me - I didn't believe her, of course; I had gone from a selfish bully to helping people out the second they asked. That kind of change didn't just happen because I got bored.

I had apologized to everyone I had picked on back in middle school if I could find them; to their credit, only two or three took me up on the 'one free punch' deal. Some of them could really hit, too - my ribs ached for a few days after the second guy punched me there. But I had stopped picking on other people and started helping them out instead, and I found that people were a lot nicer to me as a result. Shocking, right? I guess I should rephrase that. When I had been picking on people, they had feared me; now, they respected me. It felt like the same thing at first, but there was a huge world of difference.

And my grades were looking up, thanks to Emi. She was still just as smart as that day I started watching her, and she was always willing to explain a concept to me. And she had kept her word - she hadn't left my side ever since she started trying to change me. I don't know why she wanted to make me stop being, well, an asshole, but I wasn't sorry she did.

Hey, I got a girlfriend out of the deal. So sue me.

* * *

Time passed.

"...This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish the best of luck." With those words, the red-hooded figure - Akihiko Kayaba - dissolved into smoke and the sky cleared away, leaving us in silence. In the crowd, a mirror shattered; the mirror that reset our appearances. Suddenly, the crowd erupted into panic, every player I could see screaming and shouting.

I felt someone grab my arm and I turned to see Emi holding my sleeve and clinging tightly, her shield dangling loosely from her grasp. Her eyes were wide, and she was whispering my name over and over again; I put an arm around her comfortingly. "It's okay. It'll all be okay." I buried my face in her hair, hugging her close. "I'll protect you." I started leading her through the crowd, gently shoving people out of the way if I needed to; eventually, I got her to an inn that we had seen when we started the game. She was still in shock, and I paid for the room and led her there. When we got to our room, I sat her down on the bed and started rubbing her back. "Hey, Emi. We're safe now."

She shuddered, coming back to reality. "Oh, god... He was telling the truth..." She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders racked with sobs. "We're all going to die in here..." I had never seen her so vulnerable before; she had always been stronger than me, more active than me, more _stable _than me. Even when we graduated high school together, she was still strong through her tears. But now, she was terrified and shaking.

"That's not going to happen," I told her. "No matter what happens, I will protect you. Always."

Emi looked at me, her face stained with tears. "Always?"

I nodded. "Always." She buried her face in my shoulder, clinging tightly to me; her tears were different this time, though. Mechanically, I put my arms around her slender body and leaned against her; we sat there on the bed together for some time, just seeking comfort in each other's company.

The next day, we were walking out to the field to start fighting some boars. I was getting better with my spear, but we needed to get better if we were going to survive. Suddenly, someone called out to us. "Hey, you two!" Emi and I stopped and looked around; it was another pair of players, both female. They ran up to us and stopped, panting slightly. "We recognize you two."

I was pretty confused; everyone's appearance was different, and Emi and I went directly to the inn room after our appearance changed. "Who are you two?" I asked politely.

"You saved us yesterday," the one on the left said. "I'm Rin and this is my partner Miyu, remember?" Rin was taller than Miyu, but they both had the same hair and eye color. I figured they were siblings. Rin had a mace on her back, while Miyu had a dagger strapped to her hip.

Emi blinked and gasped in recognition. "We saved you from those boars, right?" Rin and Miyu nodded, and she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, we didn't recognize you. For pretty obvious reasons, right?" We all laughed. "Sorry we didn't stick around very long. I'm Lylith and this is Asmodeus."

I waved. "Nice to meet you. If it's not rude, can I ask how you knew it was us?"

Miyu smiled. "There aren't that many pairs of people where one uses a spear and the other uses a sword and shield, you know. Pretty much everyone we've seen is using an axe or a sword." Good to know we were unique. "So, are you two going out?"

Emi - Lylith - nodded. "We were going to start grinding as soon as possible, before all of the good spots were taken." Since there was, you know, a limit on money, experience, and stuff like that. "Would you like to come along?"

"Would we be a problem?" Rin asked.

I chuckled. "Not at all." I waved my spear in the air. "I can keep all of you safe. Nobody's getting hurt on my watch." Lyl just watched me indulgently. Well, it was her fault I was like that, so hey, she had to live with it; in a way, I was trying to repay her kindness by helping anybody regardless of their situation.

Rin giggled. "So, you wear white and she wears red?" We were both in the starting leather armor, but the plain clothes underneath were different colors. "Kinda neat, I think. Looks good on you two."

I wasn't sure who she was flirting with, if either - or both, I don't judge - of us, so I put an arm around Lyl's shoulder and smirked. "Yeah, but it looks better off of her, trust me on that one." Lyl smacked my shoulder, blushing, while Rin openly gaped.

"Oh, are you two together?"

Lyl grinned. "We are. 'Deus and I went to the same highschool, and we were going to the same college." Deus? I liked it - it was Latin for god. Better than something like Asmo or 'Modeus or something like that, right?

Looking at you, Serra.

* * *

Time passed.

The child was crying, her chains stretching to a stone wall. "I'm not leaving her!" I snarled. "She needs our help."

"We can't do anything about it," Godfree replied. He and several other players dressed in red and white had tagged along; it was a good thing they had, too, because this quest was a lot harder than Lyl and I had expected it to be. "You read the note, too. If we take the treasure, she dies. If we try to free her, a boss shows up! And when it does, we can't use our crystals to escape!" He was pretty energetic for a guy that wanted to let a little girl rot in a dungeon. I mean, I know she was just an NPC, but I couldn't leave her.

I took a deep breath. "So, our choices are to either kill the little girl or leave?" Godfree nodded, and I gritted my teeth. "I'm taking option three. Save the girl and take the treasure." The players in the red and white - the players from the Knights of the Blood - all gasped, their eyes wide. "If you don't want to stay, you don't have to. I don't want anyone to die because of me." I swung my double-ended spear, the Rising Star. "But I'm going to save that girl or die trying." I turned to Lyl. "Lyl? I want you to be safe, but this is your decision."

Lyl smiled at me. "I said I'd watch over you, 'Deus. I can't do that if I'm not here, now can I?" I grinned at her, glad she'd have my back. We worked well as a team; her shield and sword kept the mobs' attention while I picked away at them from behind her or the side.

Godfree grinned. "Ah, what the hell! I feel like a good rumble today. Hoorah!" He punched the air, and I exchanged a glance with Lyl; he was kinda crazy. But he was a good fighter, and his team followed his orders quickly and without question.

I knelt down by the child. "You can stop crying now. We're here to rescue you."

The girl rubbed at her eyes and sniffed. "He said that he'd know if I left, and that he'd come find me immediately..."

"We'll keep you safe," I said, and meant it. "Now, let's get those manacles off you." I pulled a key out of my pouch - a key we found earlier in the dungeon, along with a note explaining everything - and unlocked her manacles. They clattered to the ground, the metallic sound ringing out; I picked the girl up and handed her to one of the Knights of the Blood members. "Watch over her, alright?" The guy nodded. I turned to the chest and opened it, pulling out everything inside; it was mostly gold and jewels, but there was a very strange trident inside as well. I examined the item to find that it was called the Fatal Retribution. I guess it was supposed to be a slap in the face from anybody who killed the girl to get it. Well, joke's on you, game. I'm stupid and willing to help anybody out to a fault, so hah!

Wait, that's probably not something to be proud of.

"Who dares steal from me?!" a voice roared out.

The door slammed open and a gigantic ogre stormed into the dungeon. Godfree grimaced. "That's Ulbog, the boss of this dungeon."

I glanced at him. "You've met him before?"

He nodded, his lips tight. "Several of my guildmates tried to free the girl. They managed to escape by leaving her behind, but it was still really close." Ulbog drew a massive warhammer and hefted it in one hand; I rolled my eyes. We get it, game, he's dangerous.

But I'd save that girl or die trying.

* * *

Time passed.

Lyl glared at me from across the table. "Stop playing with those cards and eat, 'Deus, or I swear I'll feed you myself."

I smiled. "Shouldn't your threat end in a threat?" Nevertheless, I did what she asked and put away my cards - I had picked up a deck of playing cards a while back, and I was playing solitaire – to start eating. Naturally, of course, that was the second we were both hailed by a familiar voice.

Godfree approached, laughing. "Sorry, didn't mean to be late." He pumped his fist. "Some monster took a little longer to knock out."

"What's going on, Godfree?" I asked. "It's nice to see you and all, but why did you want to meet us?"

Godfree laughed. "I told my boss about the fight with Ulbog, and he was pretty impressed." He banged the armor on his chest. "Me too, and that's not easy!"

I grinned. "Well, we're here." Godfree had asked me and Lyl to meet him on the latest floor; he said he had something to ask us. "What's the big deal?"

Lyl placed a hand on my arm. "Just wait, 'Deus. He'll get to it in time." She sighed. "You're always so impatient."

"Well, thing is, Heathcliff wants you to join up with us," Godfree said easily, as if he hadn't just dropped a huge decision on us.

I glanced with Lyl, and turned back to Godfree. "I don't really know which of us you were talking about, but it doesn't matter. It's both of us or neither of us." I put an arm around Lyl and drew her close. "And that's non-negotiable. I won't leave Lyl's side no matter what." She smiled at me and kissed my cheek - I had come a long way from the bully who just wanted her to leave me alone. "So if Heathcliff only wants one of us, he can bite me."

"I'd much rather not."

The deep voice made me whirl, and I put my arm out to cover Lyl automatically – of course, we were in a Safe Zone, so it really wasn't necessary. Godfree coughed. "Hello, sir."

So that was Heathcliff - a more distinguished gentleman with a gigantic tower shield and brilliant ruby armor. I bowed slightly. "Hello, Heathcliff. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Heathcliff nodded. "Likewise, Asmodeus. Lylith. I've heard much about you. And as to your question, the answer is yes. I want both of you to join my guild, the Knights of the Blood."

Lyl looked at me, and I nodded; I was fine with whatever she decided so long as we be together. She turned to Heathcliff and smiled. "We'd love to."

We received our new equipment when we arrived at the Knights of the Blood's temporary headquarters; Heathcliff had asked us if we had any preferences, and he had delivered on our requests; Lyl was dressed in crimson, and I was in pure white, just as we had started the game. I studied her as she rested on the bed we had been given; the red suited her. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and caught me staring again; unlike the first time, though, I didn't break my gaze. She smiled softly and sat up. "We've come a long way, haven't we?" she asked.

I nodded. "Hard to believe that just a while ago we were normal college students. And it's only been what, a year? Just under that?"

Lyl was going to reply when someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" she called out, and the door swung open to reveal a younger girl with long chestnut-colored hair.

"My name is Asuna," she said without preamble. "And I'm second-in-command among the Knights of the Blood." I remember thinking it was impressive for someone her age to be that high up in a guild; then again, age doesn't really matter in SAO, does it? "Asmodeus, Lylith, if you could come with me, please." We followed her out to an open area with a wooden fence surrounding a cleared space. Asuna turned and smiled at us. "Now, I'm sorry to insist, but we do have to test our recruit's capabilities. Asmodeus, Lylith, you'll be fighting me one-on-one."

I shrugged. "Sure, whatever. We joined the guild, we play by your rules, right?"

Asuna smiled. "Well, we don't have many rules, but this is something we have to do. Which one of you would like to go first?"

I hopped the fence and drew my double-ended spear. "I'll take you on first. Might as well, right?" Asuna entered the ring as well and drew her weapon, a long rapier. I twirled my spear around, showing off just a bit for my new commander, and dropped into a ready stance. Asuna tapped her menu and sent me a duel request; set at Half-Loss, we would fight until one of us dropped to yellow health.

As the timer clicked down, Asuna dropped into a fighting stance, crouched with her rapier held in both hands. I circled her slightly, trying to remember what I had heard about her. Something about her technique with the blade? No, that wasn't it. Was it her fighting style? No, that wasn't it either. Suddenly, I remembered. It was that she was -

And then the timer hit zero and I had an arm's length of rapier in my gut. That's right, it was that she was ridiculously fast with her rapier – she must have been holding back, or I'd probably have lost by that point. Gritting my teeth, I kicked out and jerked away, trying to force her to back off. She obliged, giving me some room; I returned the favor by charging her, spear leveled at her. Just before I got within striking range, I plunged one tip of the spear into the ground; it fooled Asuna, who dropped down to cut at my feet. Instead of doing what she expected me to do - that is, a low attack - I jumped in the air and used my spear as a fulcrum, swinging around and slamming my boot into her side – the «Martial Arts» skill, «Wheeling Falcon» . She was knocked away but rolled with the blow, coming to her feet almost immediately. She grinned tightly, rubbing at her side. "Impressive."

I cracked a grin. "Thanks, but you haven't seen anything yet." I had developed a relatively strange fighting style, using my spear as both a polearm and as a staff; it worked, though. I threw myself forward, tumbling and rolling into a crouch in front of her; I swiped my spear in a deceptively lazy arc, but Asuna managed to jump over it at the last second. I came to my feet and continued the spin, shifting my grip as I turned until I faced Asuna again; I swung it almost like a golf club, catching her by surprise and cracking the side of the spearhead against her lower arm. Her hand spasmed and she almost lost her grip on her rapier; seeing a quick win, I closed in and prepared to attack. Suddenly, her rapier flashed up and stabbed me in the shoulder - her apparently opening had been a ruse designed to lure me in. It worked; the timer rang and I realized my health had just dropped to yellow.

Asuna smiled at me as we sheathed our weapons. "Like I said, very impressive. It will be good to have you in the guild. Lylith?" It was her turn.

* * *

Time passed.

It was a bright and sunny day, and Lylith had informed me that we were going to be going on a picnic with several of our friends in the guild. Because I was a fine, upstanding gentleman that loved picnics - and because she had her hand on the hilt of her sword when she told me - I readily agreed. We were currently wandering through a forest on one of the more peaceful floors, and the only sounds we could hear were the ambient sounds of the forest and our own muted conversations.

There still weren't any caterpillars!

Anyway, we walked by a small brook and Lyl tapped me on the arm. "Hey, 'Deus, I'm running low on some of the herbs I use for medicine, and I saw some along that brook. Can you pick some for me while we find a good place to eat?"

I smiled and nodded. "Sure thing, Lyl. I'll get you whatever you need."

She hugged me tightly. "I don't deserve you," she whispered.

"It's supposed to be the other way around, sweetheart," I said while patting her back. "I'm the one who doesn't deserve you. After all, I'm only who I am today because of you." We separated and I smiled at her. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up after I get these herbs."

The rest of our party went off and I stayed behind to grab the herbs Lyl had asked me to get; it took me about ten minutes to collect everything within a certain range. Lyl hadn't specified what she wanted, so I grabbed every herb I could find; I knew what the herbs looked like, but not which ones she needed. I had been meaning to pick up the «Medicine» skill, but just hadn't gotten around to it; I figured that if I needed it I could pick it up when my next skill slot opened up. I swiped open my menu to search for Lyl and the others - once I had my bearings, I started heading in the direction it told me to go. They hadn't gone anywhere the next time I checked, so I assumed they found a good place to eat.

I approached the clearing where Lyl and the others were from the side, preparing to get something to eat. Suddenly, a loud commotion came from the clearing before dying down quickly; I frowned, confused. Lyl's voice rang out through the now-silent forest. "Okay, Laughing Coffin, they're paralyzed. Just like you said." Wait, what? What was going on? But Lyl said something about Laughing Coffin, so I needed to play it safe. I crouched behind a tree and took a few deep breaths, trying to prepare myself; eventually, I peered around the tree, fearing what I saw. I froze at the sight of my friends all lying prone, each one with a dagger in their back.

Suddenly, three cloaked figures appeared from the other side of the glade, seemingly from nowhere; they all had a similar tattoo on their hands, a black coffin with a skeletal arm reaching out. As they approached, they pulled back their hoods; one player was wearing a sack over his head, while another had a skull mask. The third man, the one in the middle, was clearly the leader, just by his bearing alone; he also had two scars, one on each cheek. "Ooh, what fun, what fun!" the one in the sack crowed. "A little birdie, desperate to save itself, pushed its brothers and sisters out of the nest. Such a mean little birdie." What was he talking about? And what was Lyl doing with these guys?

Lyl stood her ground. "I did what you asked. I lured them here and paralyzed them without telling anybody anything. Now please, let me go. Please don't kill me." The one in the skull mask, in the meantime, had started killing my guildmates. I felt my heart twist and wrench every time he stabbed them, and when they finally burst into polygons it was almost like a blessing to know they were out of their misery and pain. I was helpless. I was unable to move a muscle, and all I could do was watch as the bastards butchered my teammates. My friends.

The man in the middle smiled - it was the smile of a shark, and I felt something inside me shake in fear. "Very well. Johnny Black, you remember the deal - you're no longer allowed to kill her."

The man in the sack - Johnny Black - sighed and flailed his arms. "PoH, you're taking all the fun out of this. I _never_ get to kill them anymore."

Lyl sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god. I'll pretend I never saw your faces, if anyone asks we were attacked by monsters... whatever you want."

"I'm very sorry, but at what point in the conversation did you assume that we were going to let you live?" PoH's gentle, almost polite question chilled my blood to the bone, and Lyl's face drained of all color. In the blink of an eye, PoH had raised his hand - there was something resembling a meat cleaver in it - and brought it down on Lyl's arm. It sheared through the armor as if it wasn't there, and Lyl screamed in pain. She turned slightly; just enough to see me, hiding behind the tree. Her piercing green eyes met mine, her gaze holding something in it - I couldn't tell what. Was it blame? Apology? Guilt?

And then PoH's arm raised again and lowered again and ended Lyl's life. I watched as Lylith, as Emi died in front of my eyes. I hadn't been able to keep my promise, and it was all my fault; I wouldn't have blamed her if she had hated me, at that moment. The woman I loved was dead because I had chosen to hide and stay safe; everyone's death was on my hands. I hadn't been there, I hadn't been able to save them like Emi saved me...

PoH and the other player killers walked away, disappearing into the forest. After a few seconds, I walked uncertainly toward the center of the glade, toward the spot where Emi died; when I reached it, I collapsed, falling to my knees. I reached out, trying to grasp something, anything that would tell me Emi hadn't died, that this was all a cruel trick. But my reaching fingers didn't find hers, my hand wasn't squeezed reassuringly. I trembled, and then a cry, a scream of pure grief ripped itself from my throat. I started sobbing uncontrollably.

I was still sobbing when a task force of Knights of the Blood members arrived, trying to figure out what happened.

* * *

Time passed.

I sat there, crouched in a tree, and watched as a group of three orange players surrounded two green players, another green player watching smugly from a distance. A gang of player killers, their prey, and a Lure respectively. One of the orange players raised their arm to start the butchery, and I threw my trident at the man; the left tine slammed into his back, knocking him forward and trapping his arm between the other two tines. I jumped from the tree, ignoring the swearing from the other orange players, and rolled once I landed. I sprang up from my roll and kicked the other orange player in the throat with a jumping spin kick, the skill «Pouncing Leopard»; he rocketed into a nearby tree and sank down, stunned. The last orange player drew his weapon and charged me, his sword glowing a pale blue; I drew a throwing pick and launched it at him. It nailed him right in the chest and he stumbled forward, unable to move due to the paralysis. I walked over and stabbed him in the back repeatedly with my backup knife until he burst into blue polygons. My eyes burned with hate as I took in the scene; one dead, two neutralized. The next one I needed to kill was the one by the tree. He staggered to his feet just in time to meet my knee with his face; I crushed him against the tree and started pummeling him with my bare hands. When I stopped, my knuckles were bruised and the man was dead. I stood up and moved toward the last orange player killer; as I passed, his two targets stared at me. I looked at them, and then continued on my way - they didn't need to say anything, but they didn't have to; I could feel their shock and fear. I crouched by the last killer and tapped him on the shoulder. "That's a nice cloak." It was made of black feathers, and had a nice hood. "I'll be taking it from your corpse." I pulled the trident out of his body and stabbed him in the back; he cried out in pain and died.

I checked my inventory of items received from the fight; that cloak was in there, and it was called the Cloak of Lies. It had a nice passive ability of increasing the wearer's «Hiding» skill - ironic, that; I mean, hiding had saved me from killers, and now it was going to make sure nothing could save them from me. I approached the Lure that was trying desperately to press herself into the nearby tree and smiled grimly at her. There probably wasn't any humor in that smile. "So. I'm going to leave you alive right now, and do you know why?" She shook her head, silent and terrified. "Because you're going to spread the rumors. You're going to tell the _world_ that Asmodeus is hunting player killers, that he sits in judgment and brings Retribution with him."

Sure, it was corny, but I had to throw fear into the PKers somehow, right? ...C'mon, it's not like you could come up with something better.

I swiped open my menu and equipped the cloak, feeling it fall around my shoulders; I slung my trident on my back. "And if I ever see you again, I will kill you." My lips spread into a wide grin. "Now run." The Lure didn't even question my orders, she just bolted. Without a look behind me, I walked off into the night; I'd been approached by the info broker I had dealt with already. Apparently, she sold my inquiries to an interested party, and now she wanted to see if I'd pay for that person's name. I figured I'd take her up on her offer - after all, I needed as many leads as I could get. Sooner or later, something would lead me to PoH.

* * *

Time passed.

I patted my pouch; the throwing picks were all poisoned and ready to go. It was a shame that I had to give up my «Martial Arts» and «Acrobatics» to be able to become self-sufficient. Ah well - I just figured that I could re-learn them later, once I had more skill slots. I watched as the prey of the group I was hunting walked under my tree - I counted seven in total, which told me that the player killers were going to use paralysis. Nothing I could do about it, but it gave me a little bit of an advantage. The one in heavy metal armor tripped over something - it looked almost like thin air - and the others looked at him; he laughed sheepishly and scrambled to his feet. A woman with brown hair and eyes - she looked to be about my age - banged on his armor with a laugh; I couldn't hear what she said but it was probably a friendly insult.

I had checked the rumor mill earlier to find that the rumor of 'the Fallen Angel' was spreading quickly; I had also finally managed to get my skill build to be relatively self-sufficient. I had the necessities, like «Medicine» and «Item Repair», and I wanted to pick up the «Searching» skill when my next skill slot opened up. Anyway, I thought it was about time to start killing Lures. After all, that was the quickest way to stop player killing - rip out the tree by its roots. But to get to those roots - to get to PoH - I needed to trim back the branches; this gang of player killers was just the next step.

* * *

**So there you have it, the backstory behind pretty much the entire plot up until this point.**

**Now, you may be thinking, 'But (insert some method of referring to me here – e.g. KnightEstoc, Estoc, Murderhobo, sir, etc), Deus wasn't acting like a nice guy for the first two real chapters. What's up with that?' The answer to your unasked – and it better stay unasked, damn it – question is 'Shut up, that'll be dealt with next chapter'.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, or reviewed. Special thanks goes to **_Alicornation_ **and **_Undeadmonkey8 _**for being dedicated reviewers.**


	10. A Game of Life and Death

**Floor 55: October 23rd, 2024**

* * *

"...this gang of player killers was the next step." I finished talking and fell silent, watching everyone around me to see what their reactions would be. I mean, it's not every day that your friend just explains why he's a mass murderer, so I kinda wanted to know if my story would have any effect on them. Not that anything was exaggerated for effect; I actually delivered everything with the same matter-of-fact tone regardless of whether I was talking about being a bully, fighting Asuna, or watching as Emi died in front of me.

Raph was deep in thought, studying me; he knew that I didn't sleep well, and he probably understood why now. He wasn't stupid, so he could probably put two and two together to get four. After he processed what I just said, he'd probably come talk to me tonight to offer his ear if I ever needed to talk about it. Mao was gnawing on his lower lip for some reason; if anything, he finally understood why I was chasing after PoH so intently and why I refused to let people die. He was the best fighter out of all of us, and he had asked me before why I was the only one that could kill the PKers we hunted. I had refused to answer him before, but now the truth was out.

Gain's face was a mixture of shock, horror, and sympathy; I thought I could see red in his eyes. I hadn't cried about what happened for a long time, not since I resolved to find and kill PoH no matter what. The tears I had to shed could wait until I had finally avenged Emi and fulfilled my promise to her. If anything, I was protecting her memory by sharing the story with the Four Horsemen and with Serra. When I was gone, they could remember her for me. Uri's eyes were filled with unshed tears, and her mouth was hanging open - I guess it makes sense, because that story would shock anyone. I mean, I just talked about how I started out as a bully, reformed through the power of 'true love' - and yes, there are _massive_ air quotes around that, mainly because it's just that ridiculous - and then watched as my life was torn to pieces. And then I started killing people. That's why I left the Knights of the Blood, actually - because murdering people would look bad for the guild, I told Heathcliff I was leaving and started off as a solo player.

Hell, I'm surprised I'm not insane after going through all of that. Come to think of it, I actually might be; how is an insane person supposed to know they're insane?

I eventually turned to look at Serra; she was the only person I hadn't looked at yet, and I was curious how she was handling my story. When I looked at her face, though, I couldn't read it; probably because I didn't know her well enough. She had a strange look on her face that, after she realized I was watching her, softened into sympathy. "Asmodeus, I..." She swallowed. "I didn't know. I'm sorry if I made you relive anything you didn't want to..."

I barked out a short laugh. "I relive it every night." Raph jerked slightly in surprise, probably because he didn't expect me to come right out and say something about my sleeping problems. "I still have nightmares about that day. Every night." I grimaced. "It's why I only sleep when I'm absolutely exhausted, and only four hours at a time. When I'm exhausted, well... I don't remember the dreams."

"I'd wondered about that," Mao murmured. "I did the math once."

I nodded at him. "Raph knew about it, but only that I didn't sleep well." I shrugged. "It just wasn't that important to talk about and besides, it was more important that we find PoH. Would you have treated me any different if you knew I had nightmares?"

Gain opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. "Yeah, probably." Well, at least he was honest about it.

I shrugged. "That's why I never told you." I raised a hand to forestall any protests. "I didn't want any of you thinking I was doing this solely out of revenge."

Uri glared at me. "So instead you let us think you were some kind of crazy person who got off on murder?"

"Did you really think that?"

Uri hesitated. "...No, not really."

There was a bit of an awkward silence before I stood up and stretched. "Well, by now any manhunt for me is probably far away. This is your best chance to get in, buy a Corridor Crystal, and get out." I didn't want the Horsemen to be connected to me in any way, and buying a Corridor Crystal - they were pretty damn expensive, but they were my only real method of covering ground quickly - right after I was spotted on the floor would be pretty suspicious.

Serra visibly shook herself and looked up. "A Corridor Crystal?" She swiped open her menu and offered a trade with me. I was shocked to realize that she was going to trade me a Corridor Crystal. "I picked one up for you earlier - that's why I met you guys out here." Nice of her to go to that length for us; I told her so, and she grinned. "Well, Raph mentioned that you'd need to burn one when I talked to him about the meeting and I figured this would be a good way to make up for it."

"The information alone was enough," I protested weakly. "You didn't have to go to the trouble..."

She glared at me. "And I wanted to, alright? So take the damn crystal before I shove it down your throat."

Talk about mood swings.

In the end, Uri took the crystal from Serra - I was justifiably frightened that Serra would follow through on her threat. Serra said her goodbyes to the Horsemen and turned to me; but instead of saying goodbye, she paused. "So..." She didn't continue right away, but eventually locked eyes with me. "When we were on the 68th Floor together, I had to convince you to rescue that player. Remember?"

I grimaced and looked away. "Yeah." I wasn't too proud of that moment, really.

"If I hadn't been there, would you have helped him?"

"Without a second thought," I replied instantly. "But you were there, and I was... I don't know, trying to convince you that I was a prick, so you'd stay away. Everything was to make sure that I didn't drag anyone else down with me." Since I couldn't exactly tell a random green player everything I had just told the Horsemen and Serra, I needed to make sure people stayed away from me for different reasons.

It just so happened that those reasons were, in chronological order of when they were encountered with Serra, 'He's a killer', 'He's a jerk', and 'He couldn't navigate his way out of a tunnel with a piece of string'.

That's... that's not the phrase? Then what is? ...'He couldn't find his ass with a roadmap, a GPS, and both hands'? Wow. That's something.

Serra's face was a mix of conflicting emotions; I couldn't exactly read them, though. "I see." She started to leave, but turned back at the last second. People seem fond of doing that - maybe somebody think it's dramatic or something. "Have you ever considered that maybe you have more friends than you thought?" She left without giving me any chance to reply.

Seriously, some cosmic force must all think it's dramatic or something. Christ.

Uri got the crystal out of her inventory and tossed it to me; I put it away in my pouch. Looking up, she asked, "Where to now, Boss?"

"Hm..." I thought about it for a bit. "Well, we don't have anything important to do for a bit." We didn't have any leads on PKers or PoH, so there was really no need for the Fallen Angel. "I figure we can just start making our way to the front lines again, fighting through." The Horsemen groaned pretty much in unison, and I cracked a grin. "Oh, suck it up. You guys at least have the option of using warp gates and teleport crystals."

Mao chuckled. "So you're making us suffer with you? Harsh, Boss."

The group dynamic was back, at least.

But there was one more surprise waiting for me that night; we had covered quite a bit of ground after leaving that glade, only stopping once it became too dark to see easily. When we were setting up who would take what shift, Gain offered to take the first shift, something that surprised me; he usually liked taking a night shift just so he could get some sleep first. But I didn't argue, because he seemed very insistent on it and the others had no problem with it; that meant, of course, that I was lying on my back by the banked fire, wide awake and with no chance of falling asleep.

I heard movement near me and I sat up, looking around; the glow from the banked fire illuminated Uri's face as she walked over and sat down next to me. "Can't sleep?"

I shook my head. "I'm not tired enough."

"I never knew..." Uri whispered. "All this time, and I never knew anything about that."

I cracked a grin and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let it bother you, Uri. I kept it a secret from everybody." Looking back on it now, I'm not really sure _why_ I kept it a secret, but it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

There was silence for a time as we both stared at the glowing embers. Then, Uri swallowed. "Was... was Lylith pretty?"

I closed my eyes. "Beautiful. More than I could ever describe." I missed her so much; having to relive that moment every night, every time I closed my eyes... I guess it was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I had to watch her die, over and over again; on the other, I got to see her every night.

"What... what about m-me?"

I turned to Uri. "What?"

She looked at me, and her eyes were brimming with tears. "Do you think I'm beautiful?"

I was taken aback; I didn't expect anything like that, and I had no idea how to answer the question. "O-of course I do, Uri. You're very lovely." I figured that would be the best answer I could give her.

Uri smiled weakly. "I get it, though. I'm not her, right? I can never hope to be." Her voice broke at the end, and she glared at me through her tears. "I wondered why you never picked up on it, but I guess I know now. It's because you're still in love with a dead gi-"

"Shut up, Uri." My voice was flat, and Uri jerked back as if I had slapped her. "You have no right to say that." I turned to her. "What do you want me to say? That I'll fall in love with you? That I'll sleep with you?" I looked away and bit my lip. "I can't betray her like that. If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't be dead right now. If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have even been in this game in the first place." Survivor's guilt was a hell of a drug. "But she's dead and it's my fault. I can't just throw her away," - I snapped my fingers - "like that. I can't do that to her memory."

Tears still falling, Uri pushed herself to her feet and stumbled back a few steps. "I..." She never finished her sentence; she just turned and ran away from the fire into the night.

"That could have gone better." Mao appeared from the darkness and sat down on a rock on the other side of the fire pit; pulling out a half-carved piece of wood, he started whittling away at it with a small knife.

I sighed. "So is that why Gain took first shift? So that Uri could..." At a loss for words, I just waved a hand. "...That? So that could happen?"

"Not that exactly, but Uri had asked us to make ourselves scarce," Mao replied without looking up from his carving. "Gain took first shift, and Raph and I took a long walk. Uri ran past me without even noticing I was there, so I knew something happened."

I hugged my knees to my chest and stared at the fire. "I just don't know how she wanted me to react, Mao."

"It wasn't exactly the best timing," Mao said. "But she does have a point, you know." He tossed the wood carving over to me; it was an angel holding a staff with its wings drawn around itself, creating a barrier between itself and the rest of the world.

I felt my lips curve up slightly. "Subtle."

"Just think about it," Mao said. "And if you ever want to talk about it, we're here. All of us."

The next day, either Uri or Mao must have told Gain and Raph the basics of what happened, because there wasn't much talking during the day. We fought silently, every one of us fighting with our inner monsters more than the outer ones.

* * *

**Floor 67: November 7****th****, 2024**

Two weeks later, the tension amongst our group had diminished slightly; things between me and Uri were still a little formal, but five of us were at least speaking to one another again. I guess I was trying to get things back to the way they were, before all of that drama went down.

On one of the restocking runs, Mao handed the wooden carving of the Four Horsemen and myself that he had been working on to an info broker with instructions to get it to Asuna as a present. I almost wanted to give it to her myself, just to see her reaction, but with what happened on the 55th Floor, I decided that talking to her was probably not a good career move if I wanted to stay alive. Kind of a disappointment, really; her scream of absolute rage would have been hysterical.

Anyway, we were making our way through the 65th Floor when I got a message notification. I raised my voice and called out to the Horsemen, "Hold up a second. I just got a message."

Raph glanced back at me. "Who'd message you?"

"That's what I want to know," I muttered. Tapping the icon, I opened the message and took a look. My eyes widened at the sender's name. "Holy shit."

Uri looked over. "What's going on, Boss?" As an aside, she hadn't called me by my name since that night. Part of her way of coping with it, I guess. "Who is it?"

"Heathcliff," I said, completely shocked. "You know, leader of the Knights of the Blood? That Heathcliff." The Horsemen swore at the same time. "Yeah, that's about right."

We found a good place to sit - one where we could sit down but where we could still watch around us for any signs of danger - and I started reading the message out loud. "Greetings, Asmodeus. I understand that you are no longer part of the Knights of the Blood, by your own decision, but I would like to extend an invitation to you and the Four Horsemen. Yesterday, ten members of a twenty-person recon team were wiped out by the boss of the 75th Floor. According to the testimonial of the remaining members of the recon team, the door closed and there was no way to enter the room until it opened again. As a result, the Knights of the Blood is forming a raid party to challenge the boss today at one o'clock. I remember your prowess with a spear, and from what several of the members of my guild say the Four Horsemen are formidable warriors in their own rights. As the boss room likely cannot be escaped, we need as many fighters present as possible; therefore, I would like you and the Four Horsemen to attend the raid. You have my guarantee that you will not be harmed by any players present." The last bit of the message was coordinates for the entrance to the boss's room.

After I was finished, Gain whistled. "Wow. That's pretty heavy."

I looked at the Horsemen. "Do you think we should take him up on the offer?" If it was a big decision that affected all of us, I let the Four Horsemen think on it for a bit and give their own thoughts and vote on it. They only got one comment each, so they had to think carefully before making their vote.

Mao hummed in thought. "It's been a while since any of us fought a boss, so I don't know how much help we'll be..."

"But think about it!" Raph said, leaning forward. "If we show that we'll help, maybe that will give people a reason to trust Boss, even though he's an orange player." Well, technically I was a red player, but I only killed other red players. And before you say anything, shut up, Lures counted as red players in my eyes. "Plus, Heathcliff gave us his word that we'd be safe. I say we should trust him."

I looked at the two Horsemen that had remained silent. "Gain? Uri? What do you think we should do?"

Uri shook her head. "I think it's too dangerous. There's no guarantee some player won't take it on themselves to try to kill us, and the boss itself is probably going to be deadly. It is a milestone, after all." Oh, yeah, that's right - a milestone was every 25th floor; they usually had incredibly difficult bosses.

Wait, you know all that already? Then why... oh, whatever.

Gain grinned and leaned back. "Why the hell not? It sounds like fun. Besides, we were going to the front lines anyway, right? So why don't we just take this to the extreme?"

Pretty much as one, the Horsemen all turned to me. "Well, Boss?" Raph asked. "It's two to two. You're the deciding vote."

I had to think about it; they all made very good points. If we went up and fought, there was a good chance we'd all die - meaning I'd never get to kill PoH - but there was an equally good chance we'd earn some favors and build some goodwill with the clearers. And that was too precious a chance to pass up. "I say we go. It seems like it'll be fun." I grinned. "Besides, Asuna might be there. We should make sure she got our present." A round of laughter followed that snide comment. "If the raid is starting at one, we should probably be there early. Wouldn't want to be surprised by anything, would we?"

Uri laughed. "Crystal, please." I pulled it out of my pouch and tossed it to her; she caught it one-handed and started programming in the coordinates Heathcliff had given us. Once she was finished, she tossed it back to me.

It was like a well-oiled machine - so long as neither of us thought about what had happened between us. We could still work together, but it was stilted, awkward; I think Uri regretted what happened between us, regretted that we had grown apart, but I couldn't be sure unless I asked her.

Why didn't I just ask her? ...Have you ever _tried_ that? Seriously.

I checked the time; it was just before noon. "I think we should get there around 12:45. That way, it'll give us about fifteen minutes to find a good place to wait."

Raph looked around. "Uri, where's the nearest place for a campfire?" I wanted lunch, too, so I didn't complain about having to walk a few miles.

After a delicious lunch, we grouped together and got ready. "Everyone ready?" I asked. Once I got their nods and murmured assent, I pulled the Corridor Crystal out of my pouch. "Corridor open!" I shouted, lifting the crystal in the air. It glowed white, and a ripple in the air appeared in front of us; the crystal shattered moments later. "Let's go."

Once we stepped through the portal, we were on the 75th Floor. I looked around with interest; it seemed pretty fancy. "This is the what, second time we'll be facing a boss?" I wondered out loud. "We're moving up in the world."

"Last time, Kirito killed the boss," Raph reminded me.

"Shut up and let me have this."

After the Horsemen put on their masks, the next item of business was finding a good place to wait for the rest of the raiding party. There weren't any trees, so we couldn't replicate what we did the last time we surprised a raiding party. I thought about it; I knew Heathcliff pretty well, and so I figured he'd be leading the pack no matter what. Eventually, we just decided to stand in front of the door to the boss room, just to make a point. We just hoped we wouldn't die before Heathcliff could stop them from trying to murder us. That would be a pretty bad way to go.

Just a few minutes past 1:00, another corridor opened several feet from us. The Horsemen and I exchanged glances, then took our positions, waiting for the other players to appear. As expected, Heathcliff was leading the pack. He approached us without a care in the world; as soon as other players saw us, they froze, only to be pushed forward by other players appearing through the gate. Heathcliff stopped several feet from me and inclined his head. "Asmodeus. And the Four Horsemen. I'm glad you could make it; this will require everyone to fight to their fullest extent." As the raid players filed out of the corridor the room filled with more and more tension, rising higher as each new player recognized me and the masks of the Four Horsemen. Once the last player was through - I thought I saw a black coat, a sight that didn't exactly fill me with the warm fuzzies, if you know what I mean - Heathcliff turned to face the crowd. "The boss we will be fighting today is very deadly. Ten members of the recon team were wiped out in under five minutes, and there was no trace of the boss. As such, I have taken the liberty of calling in as many fighters as possible." He gestured to me and the Horsemen. "Many of you undoubtedly recognize these five players. They will be joining us in our fight for liberation, and they have been given my promise that they will not be harmed by another player. Anybody who does so _will_ answer directly to me, is that clear?"

It was about a fifty-fifty split between players whispering to each other to figure out who we were and players muttering under their breaths about orange players and murderers. I didn't really care; we had been given our free pass. But we weren't going to wear it out - I led the Horsemen over to the wall and we stood there, removed from the other players. There but not there, so to speak.

"Hey, Asmodeus!" The loud greeting caught my attention. Klein was standing there, backed by six or seven of his guildmates. "Good to see you again."

"Hello, Klein," I replied. "Good to see you as well. How's the guild?" We all chatted for a little bit, catching up on the latest goings-on; he had no problem with the fact that I was an orange player, strangely enough. I think he understood that I was searching for something or someone, and that to find it I needed to kill. At least he didn't run screaming from me or draw his sword at the sight of me, so that was progress. "By the way, are Kirito and Asuna here?"

He grinned. "Those two lovebirds? They're over by the back. Did you want to say hi?"

I shivered. "No thanks. I was just wondering if Asuna got our present."

"Present... oh, the carving!" Klein chuckled. "She was ranting about it earlier. Something about how you were taunting her or something like that. What'd you give her, anyway?"

I snickered. "It's a wood carving of me and the Four Horsemen." Klein laughed. "Mao's pretty talented." Then I realized what I had just said – namely, I had just given away the real name of one of the Horsemen.

Klein raised an eyebrow. "Mao?" I shot a quick glance at the Horsemen behind me; Mao gave me a small nod. He figured that Klein already knew how to find us, after all, so him knowing the real identities of the Horsemen couldn't hurt.

But, I still had to try to keep him off of our trail. What was that saying about people and secrets? 'Three can keep a secret only if two are dead'? Anyway, I shrugged. "He's a woodcarver. Pretty good at what he does, too, and he doesn't care that I'm orange. A commission's a commission, after all, right?"

"Why haven't I heard of him before?" Klein asked.

I chuckled uneasily. "Um... orange player resources?" It sounds stupid now, I know, but it was the best thing I could come up with at the time.

Klein shook his head, somehow not falling for that cunning ruse. "Mao's one of the Horsemen, isn't he?"

I turned back to Klein. "Er..." I sighed. "Damn it." I waved at the Horsemen. "Let me reintroduce the Horsemen. Could you block us with your guild?" Klein nodded at his guild members, and they formed a small ring around the six of us; we couldn't be seen from the outside. The Horsemen removed their masks. "Meet Gainriel, Maotaro, Raphile, and Uriyama," I said, gesturing to the Horseman respectively.

Klein smiled as the first three nodded, but his jaw dropped when he saw Uri's face. "H-hi!" he stammered. "I'm K-Klein. 24 a-and single and looking for-"

Uri cast a despairing glance my way, and I covered my wide smirk. "She knows who you are, Klein. We've met you before." The Four Horsemen put their masks back on, and Fuurinkazan subtly regrouped around Klein. "So, everyone. We're trusting you to keep our identities hidden."

I would have said more, but we were out of time. "Everyone ready?" Heathcliff's voice rang out over the murmurs of the players and the sound of status screens opening and closing. He stood calmly in front of the door, a pillar of strength. "The Knights of the Blood will be out in the front, distracting the boss and blocking its attacks." It made sense, I guess; after all, his Unique Skill gave him perfect defense. "In the meantime, the rest of you have to stay sharp, and try to figure out its attack patterns. I won't lie. This battle will be hard. But I have faith that we can and will prevail." His voice was calm and strong. "For our day of liberation!"

The assembled players cheered, and the Horsemen and I gave a half-hearted shout as well. Might as well show our support for the cause, right? But Heathcliff was very charismatic; when I was in the Knights of the Blood I would have followed him into the ends of the Earth.

Heathcliff pushed at the door, letting it slowly creak open. Every player waited, weapon unsheathed, except myself and the Horsemen; I had a feeling the raiding players wouldn't be too happy if we had our weapons out. The doors finally slammed open with a resounding crash. "Forward to battle!" shouted Heathcliff. The assembled players charged forward with different war cries, each mixing with the others; if I had been the boss in that room ahead, I would have been pretty scared. As everybody spilled into the boss room, though, the cries died off in confusion; we were all on a single large platform in the center of the room. It was dark, and I couldn't see the ground over the edge - as for the boss, it was nowhere to be seen. Everyone waited with bated breath for the boss to reveal itself. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind us and disappeared, locking us in the boss room until we killed the boss or died trying.

I just hoped it was the first one.

Gain leaned over. "I hear something, Boss. It's like bones clacking together, or something..."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" I listened carefully, and my eyes widened. "I hear it too."

"The ceiling!" somebody - I realized a second later it was Asuna - shouted. We all looked up and swore simultaneously as we saw a pale shape on the ceiling. Its bone legs twitched, kinda reminding me of some sort of bug.

"You just had to say you wanted caterpillars in the game," Uri breathed. "Didn't you?"

"That's actually closer to a centipede," Raph said absently.

I gulped. "Whatever it is, I want nothing to do with it." We were being a little flippant, but it was to distract ourselves from the gigantic skeletal centipede clinging to the ceiling. It was understandable.

"The Skull Reaper..." Gain murmured. "Holy _shit_."

The Skull Reaper hissed, eyes glowing red as the health bars quickly filled. My eyes widened as I realized it had five health bars, one more than The Gleam Eyes - I wasn't sure if that was normal or not. I realized that maybe, just maybe, we should have been a little more prepared for fighting a boss. "Stay away from it!" shouted Heathcliff. Immediately, the various players underneath it scrambled to get out of the way as it dropped from the ceiling. "Spread out!"

Two players didn't move, staring at the descending boss and trembling. Someone shouted at them, telling them to move; they finally tried to get away. The Skull Reaper landed, sending out a shockwave that knocked them into the air and made the rest of us stumble slightly. A gleaming scythe-like arm sliced forward, catching them both in the torso; they were sent flying and died before ever reaching the ground. The rest of the boss room lit up in strange red and brown colors; I wasn't sure if that meant something special or not.

"That was one hit!" Klein exclaimed.

I looked over to see that he was standing there next to a tall dark-skinned man - I recognized the player, at least. His name was Agil, and he was a merchant that I had done business with back before I was still in the Knights of the Blood. Dude drove a mean bargain. "Man, we are so dead," Agil said.

Suddenly, The Skull Reaper lunged forward, scuttling toward a group of players that hadn't gotten far enough away. Heathcliff lunged forward as well, meeting the strike with his shield perfectly. He didn't move, absorbing all of the impact on his shield. Strangely, The Skull Reaper shoved him aside and swung its other arm at the player Heathcliff had protected, killing him instantly - normally, blocking an attack would have drawn the monster's aggro, but apparently The Skull Reaper wanted nothing to do with him. The Skull Reaper started moving, way faster than it looked like it should have been able to move; suddenly, it jumped, soaring over our heads. I just swore under my breath a bit and took a few deep breaths. The Skull Reaper landed and swung, trying to kill another player; I watched as Kirito lunged forward, catching its attack with his twin swords. Despite his strength, he fell to one knee, the scythe biting into his shoulder; The Skull Reaper was so strong, even Kirito couldn't stop its attack. It swung with its second arm, trying to kill Kirito, when Heathcliff came out of nowhere to block the strike. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Asuna dash forward, rapier glowing green. She struck the boss over Kirito's shoulder and it recoiled in pain.

Well, we hurt it, at least. Only two casualties so far. That was a good ratio, right?

Sliding back from the impact, The Skull Reaper hissed at the trio of players that were confronting it. It dashed forward, slamming its blade down on Heathcliff's shield. "Me and Asuna'll deal with the scythes," Kirito shouted. "Everyone else, flank it and attack!"

The Horsemen looked at me, asking for their orders. I just shrugged; I had no better idea. Might as well follow what Kirito said, since it sounded like a good enough plan. We charged with the rest of the players, trying to get close to the boss and attack it. Since I wasn't fighting other players, I could fight without worrying about the Horsemen; it was a liberating feeling. Suddenly, The Skull Reaper reared back, throwing a few players away; its tail flashed out and slammed into a few players. Two died, while Agil - the third - was bent over, arm heavily damaged.

The Skull Reaper hissed, rearing aback again, and its legs twitched abhorrently; I fought a shudder of disgust. This boss had nothing on Gain's cooking, I told myself, and it helped a little bit; seeing the charred remains of what had been supposed to be our dinner in my mind's eye settled my nerves - if not my stomach.

I'm still not sure how he managed to set _water_ on fire, but that's a story for another day.

The Horsemen and I charged, Agil and Klein near us; Klein slid under the boss and struck with the point of his katana while Agil attacked from above, slamming his axe down onto the boss's back. It reared up in pain and I took the chance to swing my trident like a club, using the circle of metal on the end to attack the boss. "Blossom Dance," I murmured, and let the system take over. «Blossom Dance» was a higher-level «Martial Arts» skill that required some sort of staff; my trident counted, fortunately. I grabbed my glowing trident in both hands, shifting my grip so that my hands were shoulder-length apart; I thrust forward and cracked the end of the trident on one of The Skull Reaper's legs; as soon as it collided, I pulled back and spun the trident in my hands, catching it and striking out with the trident end. I flipped backwards and planted the end of the trident on the ground; jumping forward, I used the trident shaft as a fulcrum to swing around and strike The Skull Reaper with my feet - a similar attack to the one that caught Asuna by surprise a long time ago. Jumping and spinning in the air, I landed and thrust forward with the trident, just barely missing the closest leg. As the skill ended, the reddish trail in the air started to fade; that was the hallmark of «Blossom Dance», a trail of the staff's movements. It looked pretty neat, and though it was a bit long it got the job done.

The fight raged on, players switching in and out as needed; the Horsemen and I fought as a group, staying together at all times. After all, Heathcliff had promised that we would be safe, but there was no guarantee we wouldn't experience some strange 'accident' or stumble into the boss's attacks. The various effects of the different Sword Skills flickered in the edge of my sight like will-o'-the-wisps, a visual representation of the damage that we were doing to the boss. Strangely enough, most players didn't mind fighting next to us; they were uneasy at first, but after time passed we just became other faces in the crowd.

"Everyone! Attack!" Heathcliff shouted. I spared a second to glance at the heath bar of the boss; it was low in the red. I hadn't realized we had done that much damage, but we had been fighting it for over an hour by that point. Everyone that could still fight followed Heathcliff's orders and charged in, screaming various cries of anger and defiance. The constant barrage of blows took its toll on The Skull Reaper; it tried desperately to stand, but its legs must have been damaged during the fight or something because it couldn't do more than prop itself up with its scythes. As its health drained further and further, it lost more ability to stand, eventually lying almost flat and barely moving. Our combined attacks had finally robbed it of the danger, leaving it as nothing more than a bony punching bag. I didn't see who landed the final blow; it wasn't me. The Skull Reaper reared back, twisting unnaturally and roaring; it glowed a brilliant blue, half-blinding me, and burst into light. The same congratulations message we had seen on the 74th Floor appeared, along with the rewards screen. The Four Horsemen and I exchanged glances, grinning tiredly and just being glad that we were alive.

Despite the fact that we were three quarters of the way through the game, nobody celebrated; we were too exhausted from the fight to do more than weakly cheer and find allies that were still alive. I sat inside a circle made by the Horsemen - no sense in taking chances, after all - and looked around; Klein was sitting near his guild, Agil was lying flat on his back, and Kirito and Asuna were sitting back to back, resting against each other. I grinned to myself - it was kinda cute, so long as I ignored the fact that Asuna probably still wanted to kill me.

Klein spoke up from a few feet away. "How many did we lose?"

I watched as Kirito swiped open his menu and quickly counted the dots of light on the map. He grimaced. "Fourteen of us died."

"Oh my god," Agil muttered. I heard various whispers and mutterings start through the room as the news spread like wildfire; I counted the heads of the Four Horsemen without even thinking about what I was doing. I knew that they were alive, but I still counted and recounted to assure myself that I hadn't made a mistake, that my friends were still alive.

"And we've still got twenty-five floors left to go..." said Klein.

"Twenty-five more floors... How are we gonna make it that far?" asked Agil.

I tapped Mao on the shoulder. "We're not doing this again," I murmured. "It's way too dangerous." I did like the feeling of being alive while fighting, though.

I felt him grin underneath the mask. "I had fun, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Uri said. "I mean, sure it was dangerous, but it was pretty damn fun while it lasted."

I rolled my eyes. "Are we going to get a promise of safety from Heathcliff every time we want to fight? Because I'm still an orange player, if you all haven't noticed." I was still pretty tempted to keep fighting bosses since, you know, adrenaline junkie and all that. I glanced at Heathcliff after I spoke; he was the only player still standing, and his health was still in the green zone. I just shook my head in amazement.

Suddenly, Kirito lunged forward, his sword shining brilliantly. It stopped only a few inches from Heathcliff's throat, but not because Kirito stopped; no, it was because a purple hexagon had appeared in the air, blocking his sword. There was some text on it, too.

The hexagon said 'Immortal Object'.

* * *

**Er. A combination of drama and incredibly cool fighting? I'm okay with that.**

**Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, or reviewed. Special thanks goes to **_UndeadMonkey8_ **and **_Alicornication _**for being dedicated reviewers.**


	11. Aftermath

**Floor 75: November 7th, 2024**

* * *

"The reason why the commander's HP never reaches yellow... is because he's protected by the system."

"Yes, I am Akihiko Kayaba."

"But you... the power you displayed exceeded my expectations."

"How dare you!"

...Alright, alright, I'll stop with the pretentious quoting and get on with the story.

My mind swam as I lied there, face down in the dirt and paralyzed; how had things changed so quickly? Heathcliff was actually Akihiko Kayaba, and now we were all paralyzed, and I wondered if he was going to kill us all.

The actual conversation? I'm pretty sure you've heard it before, so I'm not going to repeat the damn thing. Ask someone else if you really want to know.

Every player here, with the two exceptions of Kirito and Kayaba, was paralyzed by Kayaba's system. None of us could move a muscle as he calmly told us exactly how he was going to wait for all of us on the top floor of Aincrad as the final boss of the game. "But before I go," he said, and slammed his tower shield into the ground. "Kirito. I feel you deserve some kind of reward for discovering my identity, so... I'll give you a chance." From where I was lying, I could see Uri to my right; I tried to reach out to her, fighting the paralysis, but the game mechanics would not be overruled.

"A chance for what?" Kirito asked, his voice low and dangerous. He was holding Asuna, cradling her in his arms; Klein had mentioned something about the two of them being 'lovebirds', and he was right.

"To fight me one-on-one, right here, right now," Kayaba replied immediately. "Oh, and... my immortality will be deactivated." He smiled coldly. "Defeat me and you clear the game, and all of the players will be able to log out from this world. No strings attached." His eyes narrowed as he stared at Kirito. "What do you say?"

I gritted my teeth; this was a huge decision. If Kirito fought Kayaba and killed him, we'd all log out of the game - PoH included - and I'd lose my chance to get revenge for Emi's death. But if Kirito lost, he'd die; and I knew I'd blame myself for being unable to do anything.

"Don't do it, Kirito," Asuna whispered. "I don't like it, we should fall back!"

Kirito didn't respond; instead, he was just staring off into space, his head bowed. Then he gritted his teeth. "I have to," he growled. He raised his head and stared at Kayaba. "Okay then," he said. "Let's finish it."

"Kirito!" Asuna gasped.

He looked at her. "I'm sorry. I can't run away if it means ending this," he told her.

"You better not die, you hear me?" Asuna said.

"No," Kirito replied with a small grin. "I'm gonna win." I'd seen a look like that before. I'd had it on my face every time I was with Emi; it was the look of someone who'd do anything for the person they loved. "I promise I'm going to end this world." He gently laid Asuna down on the ground and stood up. With a look of grim determination on his face, he unsheathed his swords and stepped forward.

"Kirito!" Agil called out. "Don't!" Klein called out to his friend as well.

Kirito only stopped when he was right in front of Kayaba. "Agil," he said. "Thanks for supporting all the players in the game since day one." He turned to grin at the dark-skinned giant. "Yeah, I knew. You act like you're all about the money, but I know you spent every penny on helping the intermediate players level up." Strangely, Kayaba was standing there, calmly waiting for Kirito to finish saying his goodbyes. "Klein? I'm sorry I bailed on you that day. I think about it all the time."

"Damn it, Kirito," Klein sobbed. "Don't you apologize! Don't you dare apologize now! I won't accept it! I'll never accept it until we're on the other side and you're buying me dinner, god damn it!"

"You got it," Kirito said with a grin and a salute of his black sword. "See you on the other side."

I needed to make a decision quickly; would I try to stop him, try to save his life and continue the game so I could find PoH? Or should I give up on revenge, let PoH run free? There wasn't a choice to be made, not to me. For Emi's sake, PoH had to die. And I wouldn't be able to find him in the real world.

So I had to stop Kirito somehow.

Kayaba and Kirito were having a conversation as they squared off. "I'm not planning on going down easy," Kirito was saying. "So if I die today... I want your word that you'll fix it so Asuna doesn't kill herself."

Kayaba seemed almost shocked for a moment, but he nodded his head. "As you wish."

"No, Kirito, that's not fair!" Asuna screamed. "You can't do that, it's not fair! No!" So she really loved him. I did remember Klein mentioning something about the two of them being 'lovebirds', but

"Kirito!" I called out, my voice raspy. "You can't do this."

He turned to look at me. "Asmodeus. Whatever reason you have for killing, I don't think it's changed who you are inside." He smiled slightly. "You've saved me enough times that it's pretty clear."

"But you still owe me a life, Kirito," I ground out. He froze, staring at me. "And I'm calling that debt in right now." I gritted my teeth, preparing for what I was going to say. "A life for a life. I saved yours, so now you have to save someone of my choice." Slowly, I brought my hand up and pointed at Kayaba.

"I choose Kayaba's life. He lives, Kirito."

Whispers and murmurs broke out across the room, but Kirito just stared at me. "Why?" he asked. "Why save him? After everything that's happened to us in this world, you want him to live?"

I closed my eyes. "Because I don't want anyone dying in front of me while I can help it," I replied. "Because despite everything, I don't want Asuna to go through what I had to. Because I know the pain of losing someone you love and watching them die right in front of you." I took a deep breath. "Because there's still something I have to do in this world."

Kirito stood there, torn, the tips of his swords trembling. "Why are you asking me to choose?" he whispered.

"It's not a choice," I ground out. "You owe me, Kirito, and I'm calling in that debt."

Slowly, reluctantly, he sheathed his swords and turned to Kayaba. "...Fine," Kirito spat, both at me and at Kayaba. "I won't fight. But we're even, Asmodeus. No more debts owed, no more prices paid."

Kayaba nodded. "You've made your choice. Very well then." He swiped open his menu and, after tapping a few buttons, lifted the room-wide paralysis. "I await you all on the final floor of this game. The best of luck to you, players." His eyes met mine for a second, but I couldn't read anything from his gaze. With a final selection in his menu, Kayaba disappeared and left us alone in the boss room on the 75th Floor.

Asuna rushed up and clung to Kirito, sobbing; she must have been terrified for his safety. Agil was sitting up, head resting on one hand as he stared off into the distance; Klein was talking to his guild quietly.

The Horsemen had, as soon as they could move, clustered tightly around me. We didn't really have Heathcliff's - er, Kayaba's - protection any more, so none of the green players had any reason to, you know, not kill us. If they were determined to kill me, nothing would stop them, but having to face four green players would probably give anybody second thoughts. Especially since everyone was still exhausted from having to deal with a boss and then the reveal that Kayaba had been right beside us.

Despite the fact that the stairs to leave were available - and had been ever since we killed The Skull Reaper, although we had gotten a _little_ bit sidetracked thanks to Kayaba's sudden reveal - nobody made a move to leave the room. Everyone was still trying to understand what had happened.

"Asmodeus." I looked up to see Asuna standing there.

My eyes widened, but I was too tired to do anything. "Here to kill me, Asuna?" I asked tiredly. "Just get it over with. I don't even care any more."

"Thank you."

I blinked. "What?"

"Thank you," Asuna repeated. "For saving Kirito."

A small smile twitched my lips into a wry grin. "But in doing so, I probably doomed more people to death. I don't think that deserves a 'thank you', Asuna." I was starting to regret what I had said and done.

I know that there had still been a fifty-fifty chance that Kirito would die against Kayaba anyway, that two of the three outcomes ended in us still having to clear the rest of the floors; that doesn't mean I didn't feel guilty about making him back down.

"I heard what you said," she whispered. "You did it for yourself, yes, but you did it for me too." She knelt down and gave me a hug. I was too stunned to do anything else. "So thank you for keeping Kirito here. For keeping him with me." She stood up and walked away, going back to Kirito.

Eventually, I found the strength and energy to stand up, using Fatal Retribution as a crutch to help me to my feet. The Horsemen stood beside me, keeping me in the center of the small box they had made; I walked forward until I was standing in front of the steps. "We survived another fight," I murmured.

"Hey." I looked behind me to see that Klein and his guild were standing there. Their weapons were sheathed, so I didn't feel like they were going to kill me. "That was... pretty brave, back there."

"Brave?" I asked. "How?"

Klein grinned. "Well, I figure that most people wouldn't have said anything. I mean, you did stop Kirito and Kayaba from fighting. But the only way that would have worked the way you did it, by 'saving' Kayaba's life."

I shrugged. "Kirito probably hates me. Not that I'd blame him, of course, but it's kinda funny, right?" I chuckled. "Asuna hated me for so long, but now she just gave me a hug and thanked me. Kirito actually believed I was a good person, but now..."

Klein shook his head. "Kirito's not that kind of guy. He might be angry for a bit, but I think he'll understand." I just shrugged. Klein slung his arm around my shoulders, and I staggered under the sudden weight. "And this is to make sure the others don't attack you later," he said. "I mean, despite what everyone else might think, you're okay in my book. So that means you're a friend of Fuurinkazan, and we take care of our friends.

I rubbed the back of my head. "That's such a bad decision. But I can't really stop you, so..." I laughed. "Whatever."

* * *

**Floor 76: November 7th, 2024**

The 76th Floor was actually pretty nice. Compared to the 75th Floor's almost Roman-like architecture and atmosphere, the 76th Floor was a lot more recent. From what I could see of the town – it was across a wide river, with a really fancy bridge crossing it – it had these tall clock towers that looked like it might be kinda fun to climb them. The floor also had small rivers flowing almost everywhere - they were pretty thin, but deceptively deep. It was almost like the canals in Venice, only without the awesome gondolas.

Gondolas are so awesome, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

The Horsemen and I were actually the first players on the floor; we left right away, followed closely by Fuurinkazan. The second we were out of the boss room, we rushed off into the wilderness; I couldn't go into a town, and I wasn't going to wait around for the rest of the clearers to follow me. Fuurinkazan didn't try to follow us when we went invisible; instead, they went ahead to the town to open up the warp gate for the rest of the players. It was pretty strange, really; I felt like something should have played out differently, that maybe Kirito should have fought Kayaba.

It actually ate at me the rest of the day; when we exited onto the 76th Floor it was just after 4:00 in the afternoon. Even when we stopped for dinner, a good distance from where we started, I just picked at my food; finally, Raph sighed and turned to me. "Hey, Boss, what's going on?"

I looked up from the sandwich I was holding. "Hm?" I mumbled.

"You haven't said much since we arrived on this floor," Mao said. "Usually, you're giving orders."

"We're worried, Boss," Uri chimed in. "I mean, you just stopped Kirito from fighting Kayaba."

I smiled wanly. "It's not really that big a deal, guys. I just did what I had to."

"If you don't mind, Boss," Gain said, "could you explain why you stopped him?"

I shrugged. "Because if Kirito killed Kayaba, the game would end."

"Huh?" Uri's voice was flat with surprise. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Not for me." I sighed. "If the game ended, I'd never be able to find PoH and get revenge for Emi's murder."

There was some silence after what I said. The Horsemen were sitting there, silent, as they processed what I said. Then, Raph shook his head. "There's more to it than that. I mean, that's part of it, I'm sure, but that wasn't the only reason."

I shrugged. "Whatever it is, I don't know. I just wanted to make sure that Kirito didn't fight Kayaba." I looked down. "Are you all angry? That I didn't ask you, I mean."

"Mad?" Mao's voice was kinda stern. "Mad that you made a decision that affected 6000 people and didn't ask us first? Mad that you used up a favor with Kirito, the Dual Wielder and the Black Swordsman, to save the life of the psychopath that trapped us all here?"

Raph snorted. "What do you think? Of course we're not mad."

Gain smiled. "We're your friends, Boss. We'll follow you wherever you go."

Uri laughed. "Besides, what are you going to do without us? How would you get all those potions and crystals?"

"You are..." I just smiled and shook my head. "You're all insane." It was pretty nice that I had friends that would stick by my side, no matter what I did. "Though..." I sighed. "I am sorry that you're all trapped in here longer because of me."

Raph smiled. "It's cool, Boss. Besides, it's not like we've got somewhere to be or anything. We've been in here for two years, it won't kill us to stay a little longer."

"Except where it might," Uri mumbled. "But yeah, it's cool. We don't mind."

"Thanks, guys," I said with a smile. "This means a lot."

"Although..." Raph said. "I am a little worried that you can't let this thing with PoH go." I frowned slightly, and he hurried to explain. "I mean, you're willing to keep risking your life for the chance at revenge, and that's not healthy." He shook his head. "I really think you should let go of the past and move on with your life."

I frowned again. "I can't do that, Raph. You don't know how much Emi meant to me - you can't know. But I won't stop until PoH is dead."

He was right, though; I was obsessed and it was getting dangerous.

* * *

**Floor 87: January 13th, 2025**

Several more months had passed; in that time, the front lines had been pushed to the 88th Floor. Asuna had taken command of the Knights of the Blood - as would be expected of the second-in-command, naturally - and turned it into a floor-clearing machine. Most of the dead weight like that Kuradeel jerk had been told to either get better at the game or leave the guild, and most people chose to get better. I think people were kinda angry at Heathcl- er, Kayaba's betrayal. Either way, it spurred a lot of people to start fighting and clearing the Labyrinths faster and faster. Still, there were only a few dedicated groups still trying to clear the game; more and more, people were just finding a floor that they liked and settling in. I had even started

I had reached and surpassed level 100 - I had thought that would be the level cap, but I guess Kayaba had other plans. Either way, the number of available skill slots maxed out at 13. I had all my old skills back and one extra one that I hadn't filled yet; I wasn't sure how I wanted to use my last slot. The rest of the Horsemen had all reached level 100 as well, thanks to our - well, my - need to fight our way through pretty much every encounter. After all, it wasn't like we could just teleport back to town if something went wrong.

Speaking of the towns, the Four Horsemen had been reporting some strange rumors about me during those months. Apparently, Asuna made some sort of statement to the Knights of the Blood that I wasn't to be attacked on sight; strangely enough, Kirito backed her up on that. So we were kinda tolerated, so long as we didn't bother anybody. I was still an orange player, and nothing could ever change that, but I was at least able to rest a little easier without always looking over my back.

We had fought in most of the boss fights; there wasn't really much to say about that. Whenever we showed up, Fuurinkazan and Klein weren't far behind, shadowing the five of us and making sure we weren't being harassed. I didn't say anything to him, but I knew he knew that I knew he was doing it.

Wait, I just confused myself. He knew... I knew... I knew... yeah, that was right. I knew he knew I knew. ...Right?

Anyway, the identities of the Four Horsemen were still a secret, so Klein had kept his word and not said anything. I occasionally wondered if the info brokers knew, but the Horsemen were careful to not go to the same ones more than once or twice in a month. It made it kind of difficult to get good information, which was why we hadn't heard anything about any PKers, but it kept us safe.

Anyway, we were relaxing on the 87th Floor one day; we hadn't made it to the boss fight in time, and all of the bosses those days were the same deal as The Skull Reaper - you went in, and you either killed the boss or you died. Crystals were useless, and the door locked behind them. Anyway, the 87th Floor - it was a pretty dismal place, with jagged rocky outcroppings and a weird smell in the air; it smelled like rotten eggs, and according to Raph that was the smell of sulfur. Occasionally, fire would shoot up from the ground, so you had to watch where you stepped.

I got off track. What was I talking about? ...oh yeah, that's right, I remember now.

We were relaxing on the 87th Floor, eating lunch in preparation for tackling the Labyrinth. We were all joking around, trying to ignore the fact that we were about to, you know, tackle the Labyrinth; I remember that Gain and Mao were having a spirited debate about something related to the power structure of the guilds - I don't even know where they learned some of the phrases they used, and I didn't ask - while Raph, Uri, and I were munching on our food and chatting about nothing important. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but I was wildly gesturing and a chicken leg I was holding went flying. "C'mon, Boss, you could just say you don't like it," Raph complained jokingly.

I grinned at him. "Oh?" I grabbed another leg of chicken and tossed it over my shoulder. "What are you talking about?" Grab, toss. "I love this so much." Grab, toss. "There's nothing better." Grab, toss. "How could you think I didn't like it?"

I reached to take another piece of chicken, but Uri grabbed my hand, laughing. "Hey, don't go wasting it all, Boss. We're not going to get to eat until we get to the 88th Floor, so maybe you should eat your lunch instead of tossing it over your shoulder." Uri and I had managed to come to some sort of silent agreement; we wouldn't talk about what happened those months ago, she wouldn't bring up Emi, and I wouldn't yell at her. It worked, what can I say? "You do need to eat, though."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Yes, _mother_." I reached for the piece of chicken, intending to eat it; before I could take a bite, however, I was interrupted by a screen that randomly appeared in front of me. "Huh? 'Congratulations, you have successfully tamed a Hellhound. Please enter a name'? The fuck?"

The Horsemen burst out laughing. "Look behind you, Boss," Gain managed to gasp out between gales of laughter.

I turned around to find a monster standing behind me, obviously non-hostile thanks to a green color cursor. In its mouth was a chicken bone - one of the bones that I had tossed over my shoulder. "Mother of _shit_." My absolutely dumbfounded tone just set the Horsemen off again, and I let them laugh as I stared at a tamed monster.

Okay, let me explain how taming monsters worked, if you weren't aware. If you do know how it works, well, deal with it. Anyway, the game keeps track of the different monsters that you've killed. Apparently, if you feed a monster and the amount of creatures you killed is under a certain amount, you can tame the monster instead of fighting it. Some girl had managed to tame a tiny flying dragon - I'd never met her, but apparently they called her the Dragon Tamer - and a couple other people had managed to tame a pet. Thing is, you have to feed it and keep track of its health, or it will leave. Worst case scenario, it even turns on you and becomes hostile again. So, I'd never really intended to tame a monster; it seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth.

But there I was, staring at an accidentally-tamed «Hellhound». It stared back at me, and to be entirely honest, it looked pretty neat. It was pretty big, coming to my hip when I was standing; its fur was black with a few red streaks in it. Its eyes were the coolest things; to use an old and tired cliche, it looked like two coals were smoldering in the depths. It looked almost intimidating - until it started panting, a pink tongue hanging out of its mouth. At that point, I laughed and reached out to stroke its head; it woofed as I touched it and I chuckled. "Hey, boy." At least, I thought it was a boy.

Do Hellhounds even have gender? Oh, whatever. It's not like I was going to lift the thing and check; it probably weighed more than Uri did. ...Hey, hey, that's a compliment! Don't get angry.

"What should we name you?" I thought about it for a bit, and then remembered something I had read once. "Let's call you Kun Annwn." I typed that in and hit enter, and the screen appeared. Under my name appeared the health bar of my new pet. "Kun for short. That good?" Kun woofed in agreement and licked my hand. I grinned; he seemed to like it.

Mao asked how that was spelled. "Jesus," he chuckled when I told him. "Wanna buy a vowel?"

I absently flipped him off, and Kun barked. "Bite me, Mao. It's from some old Celt myths or something." It was something that I had read in class one day; the Cwn Annwn - I changed the spelling of the first word because what despite Mao said, I needed more than one vowel - was essentially a hellhound that hunted in the Wild Hunt. I wasn't entirely sure what the Wild Hunt was - near as I can tell, it's a big thing in the Celtic myths or something. I don't really know. Anyway, I thought it sounded cool. Emi was a lot more into stuff like that than I was, but I read over her shoulder occasionally when she read books about it, mainly just to spend time with her more than any real interest in mythology; I guess this was a way to honor her memory.

"The Cwn Annwn," Gain said suddenly. "It was a mythical dog that took part in the Wild Hunt, a spectral hunt led by the Celtic lord of the dead, Gwyn ap Nudd. Basically, the Wild Hunt was a sign that some catastrophe was going to happen soon, and some people thought it could steal their souls if they were caught up in it." I stared at him - and I wasn't the only one, the rest of the Horsemen were staring as well - and Gain frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Where'd you learn that?" Uri stammered.

Gain shrugged. "When I was twelve or so, I read it in a book I found around the house. It was a bunch of old mythological stuff - pretty neat."

Raph just shook his head and turned to me. "Well, at least you know what you should have for your last skill slot," he said. "Aren't there a bunch of familiar skills?"

I swiped open my menu and started scrolling through the options, absently feeding Kun a piece of chicken. He gobbled it up and then laid down on my feet, gnawing on the bone that he had brought with him. "It looks like «Familiar Recovery» is the best bet. That lets me heal Kun without having to burn a potion or crystal." I tapped that and put it in my final Skill Slot. "Neat."

We chatted for a little while longer, eating our lunch and taking our time about it. Suddenly, Kun stood up and started growling, staring between me and Gain. "What's going on?" Gain asked.

"Looks like Kun picked something up," Mao said, standing and grabbing his axe. "I've heard the familiars can do that."

I stood up as well, grabbing my trident and searching for whatever set Kun off. "Could come in handy. I'd be able to sleep without worrying about being ambushed, for one," I said absently. I couldn't see anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there.

Suddenly, a creature appeared out of the smoke that was everywhere on this floor; it was big and red and scaly, with several heads. A «Fire Hydra» - most of the monsters on the 88th Floor were fire-based, or at least fire-themed, thanks to the surroundings. Uri grinned and drew her sword. "Looks like the furball was right. Ready to fight?"

It turns out, Kun Annwn was pretty useful in a fight. His powerful fangs managed to pierce the scaly armor of the «Fire Hydra»; normally, only heavy strikes could slam through the heavy scales, and the only other weak spots were the mouths of the various heads. And that... was not exactly safe, for a couple obvious reasons; most of those reasons were sharp and very pointy. But Kun Annwn just ripped the scales off, opening up some more places to attack. The Horsemen and I had always had trouble fighting the Hydra-class monsters; even with the five of us, their AI was super strong. Mao was the only one who could reliably damage them, so the rest of us had to distract them; of course, that meant we couldn't do much damage very quickly. With Kun's help, though, we were able to do damage that much faster and kill the Hydra that much faster.

After we finished fighting, I sank back down in front of the campfire. "Damn, that was a lot easier." I stroked Kun. "Good dog." He panted, looking up at me happily. I looked up at the Horsemen and grinned. "Well, looks like we have ourselves a team pet." So long as I fed him consistently, Kun should stick around for a long time.

* * *

**Floor 91: March 2nd, 2025**

"So... the famous Asmodeus," the info broker said. "I'm glad to finally be able to meet you."

"And I you, Argo," I replied. "I must say, I'm a bit surprised. Most info brokers wouldn't be willing to meet outside of a Safe Zone."

Argo the Rat, the information broker I was meeting with, smirked. "Well, most info brokers aren't me. I'm the best there is, and there's nothing I won't sell for the right price." It was a good thing the Horsemen had been wearing their masks when she showed up at our campfire that day - we had been near a town, and there had been a group of players that were near. If they hadn't been wearing their masks, things could have gotten nasty. "Anyway, Deus, I've got some news you might want to hear." It was jarring to hear my old nickname from Argo; she was only a few years younger than I was, but from what I had heard she was remarkably intelligent.

Apparently, several players had asked her out - they thought she was beautiful, they thought they could get information for free, I don't know - but she turned them down. I don't know why; I didn't bother listening to the gossip. At least, the gossip that wasn't about me. Maybe she was waiting for the right guy or something; she did have a quick mind and a sharp tongue – even though I'd only talked to her once or twice, it was pretty obvious – and so any guy she set her eye on would probably have to be able to keep up with her. I briefly considered asking her why she kept turning people down, but I decided it wasn't really all that important, in the overall scheme of things.

Overall scheme of things, of course, being a nice way of saying 'I had a feeling she'd stab me if I asked'. Or charge me for the information; I wasn't sure which one would have been worse.

I stroked Kun - Argo's eyes were locked on him for whatever reason - and studied her. "And what guarantee do we have that you won't immediately sell our position to the highest bidder?"

"Two things," she said, holding up a fist. "First," she raised a finger, "you won't be here much longer if I guessed right. And second," she raised another finger and smirked. "You don't have a guarantee."

I shrugged and glanced at the Horsemen; without saying anything, they all nodded. I nodded back and turned to Argo. "You have yourself a deal. How much do I owe you?" She quoted her price and I winced; picking up on my reaction, Kun bared his teeth and started growling, a low deep rumble. Argo immediately quoted a slightly lower price. "I'll pay whatever," I said. I swiped open a menu and traded her the price she asked; she accepted, eyes still not leaving Kun.

"Alright, then," she said. "Here's what I know. Apparently, a single player has been going on a PKing spree on one of the lower floors; they've been steadily creeping upwards from the 43rd Floor, one per floor. Right now, the latest one reported was on the 51st Floor."

I frowned. "How has nobody else heard about this?" Killings, even if they were only one per floor, were pretty hard to keep quiet – there was a monument in the Town of Beginnings that held a record of when each player died and what they died from. Anyone curious enough to visit and spend time searching could find out that there had been a rash of PKing recently.

"The Knights of the Blood have been intercepting the news and keeping it quiet," Argo replied. "Which is pretty hard to do, in this game. They have half of their new recruits on the lower floors running damage control."

"So how do you know about this?" Mao demanded.

Argo smirked at him. "Trade secret," she replied. "But I can guarantee that nobody else knows about this. There's a reason I'm the best."

"Thank you for the information," I told her. "Is there anything else?"

"Only that someone saw him and ran," Argo said. "Apparently, he has a Laughing Coffin tattoo on his left hand and he wears a green cloak with a hood." My eyes widened, and Argo grinned victoriously. "Ah, so I was right. You'll be leaving soon, right?" I nodded, silent - I didn't trust my voice - and she stood up. "Right, then. I'll be seeing you later, Asmodeus. You can trust me on that." She brushed herself off and walked away, disappearing in the foliage almost immediately. Probably off to sell the news of my purchase to someone.

"Are we leaving?" I asked them. "This is a big decision, so-"

"Oh, don't even start, Boss," Uri snapped. "You know we're going with you, just like we know you'd be going without us if we voted not to go."

Mao sighed. "Well, we do have some extra Corridor Crystals. We should have enough to get down there, check it out, and then return. Even if something goes wrong and we have to cover a few floors, well... we're strong enough to handle it."

"Let's go get us a PKer!" Gain exclaimed, and I smiled at his enthusiasm. Raph looked up from where he was typing in his menu, and he just smiled and nodded, silently showing his support for the idea.

I sighed. "You're all crazy. Every last one of you." Then I grinned at them. "But I'm crazy too, so let's get going."

I tossed a crystal to Uri and she caught it; Mao frowned, his forehead furrowing in thought. "Argo said the latest reported PK was on the 51st Floor. And since she knows all about this secret murder spree, I'm pretty sure that if there's been a murder on the 52nd Floor she'd know about it."

"So, what, he hasn't made it to the 52nd Floor yet?" I asked. We were all avoiding saying PoH's name, as if by saying it we'd jinx our luck and he wouldn't be there.

"Either that or he's on it right now," Mao replied. He nodded to Uri and she set the coordinates on the Corridor Crystal.

I caught the crystal in one hand when she tossed it to me. "Well, everyone, are you all ready?" I asked. Receiving their nods, I turned and lifted the crystal into the air. "Corridor open!" I called out.

* * *

**Floor 52: March 2nd, 2025**

The second we were on the 52nd Floor, we were on the hunt. The first thing we always did was track down a player on the floor and grill them for information. It had become far easier once the rumors about the Four Horsemen spread; all they had to do was put on their masks and they were intimidating figures, able to scare anybody into answering their questions. Usually, Mao or Uri asked the questions; Gain didn't like scaring people, and Raph felt slightly guilty about it. If we had to negotiate with someone, those two were perfect for the job - since it usually required trustworthy faces and a gentle touch, according to Mao - but when we needed questions answered and we needed them answered right away, Mao and Uri got the answers we needed.

Luck was on our side, because we ran into someone leaving the nearest town almost immediately. The girl had seen someone matching the description almost perfectly. Green cloak, tattoo on the left hand... it fit everything perfectly. Our _very willing_ – we were totally not pressing people for information, because that would so morally reprehensible – informant had seen the guy skulking around in the bushes the day before; when the Horsemen reported that to me, I knew it had to be our prey, and a small shiver ran down my spine. It had been a while since we were last on the hunt, but my body remembered exactly how it felt to be tracking down my prey; a small tremor ran through Kun's body and I realized he was reacting to how I was reacting. I had never hunted with an actual hunting dog before, and I realized that it could be interesting. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that I had managed to tame him accidentally.

I looked around at the Horsemen and I realized, by the looks on their faces and their body language, they were falling back into the roles of the hunters. For a while, we hadn't hunted anything more dangerous than the monsters on the floors. Not that it was easy to fight them by any stretch of the imagination - their AI had gotten stronger and stronger as we cleared floor after floor - but it wasn't the same as hunting down a player.

Players were far more creative... and far more deadly.

* * *

**The hunt is on! Will the hunting dogs catch their prey, or will it escape?**

**Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed. Special thanks goes to **_Alicornication _**for being a dedicated reviewer.**


	12. Letting Go

**Floor 52: March 2nd, 2025**

* * *

So, I figure I might as well let you all know just what it's like for us to hunt a player - usually players, but in this case just one solitary person.

Because the floors in Aincrad were ridiculously gigantic and detailed, we needed to split up and search for the player killer on our own. We had all mastered the «Hiding» skill - one of the first things I insisted on when the Horsemen joined up with me - and so we used that to our advantage, trusting that our high ranks in the skill would keep us hidden. Someone that specialized in killing other players - that is, every goddamn person we hunted - probably had their «Searching» skill maxed as well; of course, that meant we could be spotted if they were looking around. Thankfully, though, most player killers waited patiently for their prey to come to them - we were rather unique, actively hunting out our prey. Because of that, most of the player killers we had hunted didn't bother using their «Searching» skill; at least, we had never been compromised before. We also never had Kun with us before, but from a distance he'd just appear to be another mob. And if they were close enough to see that he had a green color cursor, they were close enough for us to take him down.

If the players we were hunting had a specific location that they liked to hang out in, we just started there and searched as exhaustively as possible. That usually worked; it's how I found the gang of player killers that attacked the Horsemen's party. That particular band of killers had stuck around the area for far too long, and rumors started to spread about them; the same green player had been seen in the same town buying a lot of supplies far too often, and some enterprising info broker had noticed. I bought the information, and started tracking them; I followed the Horsemen's party unnoticed in the trees because I had a feeling they were the next targets. Unfortunately enough, I was right, and the band of player killers sprung their trap. The Lure did her part admirably, drawing the concerned group closer to her; the second their guard was down, the player killers attacked and started killing them.

But that's old history. This particular person we were tracking was on the move almost constantly - according to Argo, there was only one kill per floor, a pattern that made the killer very hard to nail down - and we had no idea where their next target was. To get the widest net possible, the Horsemen all used a warp gate to travel to different towns on the floor and started searching from there. Whoever found their prey would message the others and keep tracking; sooner or later, the rest of us would arrive and we'd attack. Because it was just a single player this time - as far as we knew, but Argo's information hadn't been wrong before - the Horsemen could interfere if a player was in danger of being killed. The same rules still applied, of course; they couldn't kill, and if there was more than one person the best bet was to just shadow the killers. I hated to risk letting a player die, but it was better than losing our prey and letting them go free to kill another day.

This job had a bunch of surprisingly hard decisions.

Anyway, I stayed near the town that we had gotten the information from, and started searching from there; the Horsemen all teleported to the nearby towns and started searching. Because the player we talked to - well, the player the Horsemen talked to - had seen a player hiding out nearby, we didn't bother spreading out too far; normally, our search patterns would be a circle centered on the town we started at, and the circles wouldn't overlap much. This time, though, the circles were pretty close together. According to Mao, the idea was that if one of us missed the guy, the others wouldn't. Either way, it meant I didn't have to run as far if I wasn't the one that found the guy; because I was the only person that couldn't use a warp crystal, I had to literally run from where I was to where the other Horsemen was. And that, well...

Have you ever tried running somewhere in the dark, where even if you know the area it's still pretty dangerous? It's kinda like that; I couldn't see where my feet were, and so I usually ended up tripping and falling flat on my face a couple times before I got used to it and started compensating. I asked Raph about it, once, and he started talking about some medical mumbo-jumbo like 'kinesthesia' and 'inner ear' and 'proprioceptive' or something like that.

Back on topic.

The 52nd floor was pretty good for hiding out; there was a lot of undergrowth like bushes and stuff like that, but not many trees. Not having trees meant the Horsemen and I couldn't climb one and get a bird's eye view of the area. Having that helped a lot - occasionally, I had even managed to spot my prey from a tree. Plus, leaping around in the branches was a lot of fun now that I had my «Acrobatics» skill back; I was a lot more mobile than before, and I had missed being able to jump around like that. Because we didn't have that, though, we had to move a little faster - it was possible that our prey could be hidden himself, crouched in the bushes, but I doubted it; if a regular player on this floor had managed to see him, we'd be just fine.

Sure enough, after about an hour of searching, a message popped up in the top right of my screen. I jumped a little bit at the sudden noise, but only because I had been focusing on searching for the PKer while trying to stay quiet. Not because I was scared by it. Nope.

...Screw you too, I know _somebody_ bought that.

Anyway, the message was from Raph; he had spotted the orange color cursor from a little bit away and sent out the message. I opened my menu and pulled up his location; he wasn't too far from me, probably only a few minutes run. I had to be careful, though; if I wasn't, it was possible that I could stumble onto the guy by myself, accidentally giving away our trap. Regardless, I took off at an easy lope, the sun at my back and Kun by my side; we had managed to burn most of the day between talking to Argo, interrogating the player on this floor, and then searching for our target. So, it was about late afternoon to early evening when we picked up the scent.

I can't be too accurate with my time estimates - if I knew I'd be talking about all of this, I'd have made sure to keep a journal. I'm lucky I'm remembering this much as it is.

Circling around, I approached Raph from the right, meeting up with Mao and moving with him. Gain was actually the one I was the most worried about, in terms of getting caught; he had heavy armor, giving him a pretty big penalty to his concealment percentage. Uri's armor gave her a penalty, but it wasn't as bad as Gain's; besides, she had the «Silent Movement » skill, making her pretty much impossible to detect. Raph was just sitting tight, and I was with Mao; if we were caught, we could probably fight our way free. As we approached, I triggered my own «Searching» skill and looked around for Raph. Finding him crouched in the bushes, I tapped Mao's shoulder and deliberately drew his attention to the bushes by stomping on the ground a few times; that was our only way of communicating when not in cover, since we didn't want to speak or become visible again. Fortunately, during the months between when I tamed Kun and now, I had taught the dog a few silent signals based on how I touched him; I laid my hand on his head - 'Follow' - and moved over to the bushes. Crouching in them, I turned to Raph. "What do we have?" I whispered harshly. Rustling behind me told me that Mao and Kun had followed me; Kun nudged my side and I absently started stroking his head.

"Just one guy," Raph replied. "Orange cursor, a few minutes south." I inhaled sharply, and then let it out slowly; if I had been just a little less careful, Kun and I could have stumbled onto the player by accident. That could have ended very poorly. "He's not hidden, so I think he's waiting for somebody to come along."

Kun nudged me, and I realized that someone else was in the bushes with us. "I'm here," Uri's voice came from behind me. I didn't jump; she and I had this small war that always was going on about who could scare the other more. I was in the lead thanks to my previous need to stay invisible, but she had the advantage when it came to sneaking up on me. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. "Is Gain here?"

A small rattling told me the answer before Gain replied, "I am now." He sounded out of breath, for some reason. "We have trouble, Boss."

"What happened?" I demanded.

"The guy we're tracking? He found his target first," Gain replied. I swore and lurched to my feet; if the guy killed his prey on this floor, we'd lose him.

As we were moving south, toward where Raph saw the guy last, Mao moved next to Gain. "Talk to me. What did you see?"

Gain nodded. "I was coming up and I saw the orange cursor. So, like Boss said," he nodded at me, "I moved away and circled around him. Thing is, I was close enough to see that a player with a green cursor was approaching him."

I gritted my teeth. "So we've either got a Lure or prey." Laughing Coffin didn't usually use Lures, but we couldn't be certain this was a Laughing Coffin member; I wasn't sure if it would better for the green player to be Lure or prey, so I just sighed. "Let's just hope we get there before we have to figure out which one it is." We all pushed ourselves to run as fast as we could; none of us had the «Sprint» skill, so we couldn't exactly put on a burst of speed, but we were still moving pretty quickly. The bushes were flying by, and I had my «Searching» active to make sure we found our target.

After a few minutes, Raph grunted. "He should be around here. Maybe he's chasing after that green player?" He didn't mention the other option, that maybe he had already killed the green player. None of us wanted to think about that.

I nodded. "Gain, track it." The big guy nodded and closed his eyes; when he opened them again, they were glowing slightly blue. It was the «Tracking» skill, a skill that let him see the traces of any player that passed through an area recently. "Kun, track." Familiars had a similar skill, and by searching he'd be able to track the players by their 'scent' - he was a dog, after all. Of course, that did limit him somewhat - he couldn't track them if he lost their trail - but having a backup in case Gain couldn't find anything would be useful. Kun sniffed around for a bit, and I let him do his thing.

After a few seconds, Gain bit his lip. "Two players, both heading west." The problem with the skill was that it only showed him the general direction of their movement. It also took a bit of time to work, so the tracker was a little vulnerable while they were doing their thing. According to Gain, the longer you focused, the more information you got; the problem was - like I said - it took a while to get more than just where the players went. If Gain focused and took his time, we could probably figure out when the players started moving. But we didn't exactly have that much time.

"You heard the man," I growled. "Let's go." We started racing in the direction Gain told us, and we didn't bother with subtlety this time. If we didn't hurry, whoever the PKer was hunting wouldn't be alive when we got to them, and that was something I refused to let happen. I was in a position where I could save someone, and I wasn't going to let them slip out of my fingers again. Like I've said, it was my way of trying to atone for what happened to Emi.

We ran, but we didn't see anybody for a while, until finally I saw a green color cursor in the distance. "I see her," I called out. I tried to run faster, but I was already at my limit; regardless, I caught up to the other green player. To avoid scaring her and avoid getting myself hurt - and because Kun could still be seen - I ran past her just a bit after turning on «Hiding», and then circled around and planted myself.

Turning off my «Hiding» skill, I called out to the player - it was a young girl, probably only 14 or 15 - and waved; Kun barked as well. She whipped her head over at the sound of my voice and slid to a stop, drawing her sword. "S-stay back!" She was terrified, if that stutter was anything to go by.

"It's alright," I said as soothingly as possible. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Her eyes flicked above my head for a second. "Yeah, right. Like I'm going to believe that after you jumped out at me. How do I know you're not working with that other guy?"

"My name is Asmodeus," I told her, and her eyes widened. "Good, so you've heard of me. I take it that means you understand that I'm not going to hurt you?"

"Asmodeus? Like, the Fallen Angel?" She lowered her sword slightly, enough to reduce the threat but not enough to leave herself open. Smart kid. "The one who hunts PKers?"

I grinned slightly. "In the flesh." Well, virtual flesh, but whatever, right? "My associates, the Four Horsemen, are checking the surrounding area and ensuring that you are safe." That was really more for their benefit than for hers; I gave her a sense of safety and gave them orders at the same time. It worked, what can I say?

A few seconds later, Gain flickered into existence, his white mask of Conquest on his face. "We're clear for a bit, but I don't think the guy will give up, Boss. He was waiting for her, and he let her go for a reason."

I nodded. "Thank you." I turned back to the girl. "What can you tell me about the player that attacked you?"

She looked around uncertainly as the other Horsemen appeared and took up their positions surrounding us, watching out for the PKer. "He wore a green hood, and there was a tattoo on his left hand. Some sort of skeleton, I think?" I nodded; it was the Laughing Coffin member we had been searching for. Occasionally we had managed to stumble onto two separate PKing groups in the same area, so while it wasn't very likely it was still possible that we had managed to miss our prey. "He said something about playing a game with me, I think."

My blood ran cold; I remembered one of the Laughing Coffin members, the one with the red eyes, saying something like that. 'Did PoH play a game with you, too?' he had asked - or something like that. And now this girl was telling me a Laughing Coffin member wanted to play a game with her?

Kun didn't miss my reaction, and he drew near me; the girl didn't miss the reaction either. "Is everything okay?"

"What game did he want to play?" My voice was quiet and hard. I didn't want to scare her, but I needed the information. It could give us a hint on how we were going to handle the PKer. "What words did he use exactly?"

The girl screwed her face up, obviously trying to remember. "He said... 'Let's play a game. Run, run as far and as fast as you can, birdie. I'll catch you!'" She looked at me. "Please don't let him get me. He took my crystals, so I can't get away, and my guild's on a different floor..." She was close to panic. "I don't want to die!"

"It's alright," I said with a smile. "We're here. We'll make sure that nothing happens to you."

"Aw, how sweet!" At the sound of the voice, Kun bared his teeth and started growling, the rumble coming from deep within.

The girl shrank into me, using my body as protection. "That's him!"

The voice wasn't PoH's.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." the PKer sang. His voice was familiar... "So the little birdie flew to some friends for help?"

Little birdie. I knew that line. One of the people that had attacked Emi and my former guildmates. My blood froze before starting to boil; I had found the second person responsible for their deaths. The PKer appeared, some distance from Mao; he swore and drew his large axe. The PKer drew back his hood and giggled; he wore a burlap sack over his head, hiding his identity from the world. I racked my brain, trying to remember what PoH had called him. Then I remembered: Johnny Black.

"Johnny Black," I ground out. "I remember you."

He laughed and peered at me. "You're Asmodeus, aren't you? I remember hearing about you. You're why that other little bird pushed its friends out of the nest." I was confused. "Oh, hasn't anyone told you?" He giggled again; that was starting to get old. "It was my first job with PoH, after all." The way he said PoH's name sounded like he worshiped the murderer. "What was her name, again? Oh yeah, Lylith."

I tightened my grip on my trident until the wood creaked. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, it's so _sad_ when they don't know," Johnny Black said to nobody in particular. "Well, since I'm going to kill you anyway, I might as well tell you. Wanna know why she betrayed you all?" It felt like my head was going to burst, it was pounding so hard. "It's because of you!" he sang, doing a little hop in glee. He was gradually growing closer, but with his crazy movements it was pretty hard to tell.

"You're insane." My voice was flat.

"Hee hee, cheerfully!" he replied. "But I'm telling the truth. PoH said he was going to kill you if she didn't give up her guildmates. But you were there, you know what happened." So they knew I was hiding? Figured. "So she sacrificed those people to save you. Don't you feel special? Don't you feel loved? Don't you -"

I didn't let him finish; while he was talking, I had tossed my trident aside and rushed him. I punched him in the face with as much force as I could and he went down like - appropriately enough - a sack of potatoes. I knelt down on his chest, pinning his arms, and start punching him over and over again. "Shut up! Shut up!" My voice was raw and hoarse. "Don't fucking say anything about her! I'm going to kill you!" I screamed. I punched and punched, not even using any Sword Skills; that was the slowest way for me to kill him.

Suddenly, I was being hauled off of him and Kun was barking. It was Mao and Gain; they were holding my arms and pulling me off of him. I screamed obscenities as Uri knelt down and stabbed Johnny Black with a poisoned knife, paralyzing him - it was a knife I had poisoned with my «Medicine Mixing» skill. Not exactly an orthodox use of it, but it worked for our purposes. "Get a hold of yourself, Boss!" Raph hissed in my ear. "Calm down!"

I glared at him. "You want me to calm down after what he said? I'll calm down when I've gutted that son of a bitch!" Wrenching free, I rushed Johnny Black again, drawing my knife as I went; Gain pulled Uri out of the way as I knelt down beside Johnny Black. "This is what they looked like when you _killed_ them," I hissed, raising the knife. I plunged it into his chest over and over again, relishing the grunts and small twitches I managed to get out of him. "This is how they felt when they died!" Johnny Black finally died, laughing all the while. But I didn't stop stabbing, even though he was gone, stabbing the knife into the dirt over and over again mindlessly.

After a time, I fell backwards, the rush of hate and anger suddenly just gone and no longer sustaining me. The knife dropped from trembling fingers, and I stared at the spot where Johnny Black had been lying. When I killed him, when I murdered him. Someone - probably Raph - placed my trident next to me in the grass; I absently sheathed it, moving stiffly, as though I had been paralyzed myself. After some time passed, I looked down at the knife and, hesitantly picking it up, sheathed it. After that, I just sat there, staring off into the distance; I tried my best not to think of anything.

You know, when you go through trauma, some people get stronger - they accept what happened and they do their best to overcome their past. Other people panic and go crazy. And then there's the people like me, who just shut down for the time. Not thinking means you don't have to think about what happened to you; it means you can just float on the 'now', without thinking about the past or the future. It's soothing, in a way. The people that get stronger do it by themselves, and the people that go crazy do it to themselves. But when you just stop, there's not even a 'self' left. You see things, but you don't process it. You hear things, but you don't understand them. So it falls to someone else to save you from the void.

Shit, I think I just got kinda poetic.

A sharp sensation on my cheek snapped me back to reality, and I barely caught myself from sprawling on the ground. "Wh-wha..." I mumbled. Kun was growling, and I looked up, eyes refocusing, to see Serra standing in front of me. But she wasn't smiling; her face was stony.

"Are you going to give up?" she asked me. I just looked away, wanting to go back to that place where I was floating alone; I felt secure there. I didn't feel, there. "I see." The sound of steel sliding out caught my attention, and I looked up to see her holding her sword and pointing it at me. "Then you shouldn't have a problem with me ending your life right now."

She kicked me in the chest and this time I couldn't stop myself from sprawling on the ground. Serra stepped forward, sword raised over her head; I don't know why, but I rolled to the side just before she plunged the sword down on my head. It slammed into the dirt right next to my head, and I slowly pushed myself to my feet; Kun circled around Serra, preparing to attack. "So, you have some fight left?" Serra taunted. I didn't reply, just drawing my trident in response. My movements were slow and sluggish, as though something was holding me back. I brought my trident in front of me in a weak guard - I just wanted to defend myself, not kill her - but Serra didn't attack. Instead, she sighed with relief and sheathed her sword. "Good." I raised a hand and Kun backed off, coming back to my side.

The Four Horsemen appeared from the distance where they had been keeping watch. Raph stepped forward, his mask off - looking at them, none of the Horsemen had their masks on. I looked at him. "Did you call her?" My voice was hoarse. He nodded. "Why?" I croaked.

"Because you had retreated inside yourself," Serra answered for him. "And he thought I was the best person to snap you out of it." I looked at her, confused, and she smiled. "I mean, it's not like the Horsemen could do it. They respected you too much to try to kill you."

I grinned weakly. "And you don't? I see how it is."

I think that pathetic joke was enough to convince them that I was back.

I had plenty of questions - all of them pointed - for the Horsemen, but before I could do anything more than stand up Serra grabbed my arm. "Nuh-uh. You're coming with me." She pulled out a Corridor Crystal - those things had become a lot more frequent on the later floors, so people could burn them more often - and held it up. "Corridor open!" I was dragged along helplessly as she walked through the corridor; I reached out for help, but I swear the Horsemen just looked at me and laughed. With friends like them, right? Just before the corridor closed, Kun bounded through as well.

At least he cared about my well-being enough to come with me when I was being dragged off by someone.

* * *

**Floor 28: March 2nd, 2025**

When I could see again, we were on the 28th Floor, in front of the entrance to a dungeon. I recognized it, and my eyes widened. "What the... Serra, why did you bring me here?"

"An info broker told me this was the dungeon run that got you into the Knights of the Blood," Serra replied. It was the same dungeon that I had found my trident, and the dungeon where I had saved that little girl by risking my neck. "I figured it would be a good place for us to talk while you worked out whatever you need to work out."

We entered the dungeon, and it was like walking back in time. I had wandered through this area with Emi so long ago - it was what, two years by that point? Maybe a little less? - and nothing had changed. Oh, I had become stronger, I had joined and left a guild, I had tamed Kun Annwn, all that stuff happened; but I was still stuck back on that cool January day, when the woman I loved had been taken from me. We fought in silence for a bit, easily smashing through the mobs without having to worry about our health; they were far too low level for them to be a threat.

Eventually, we made it to the final room, key in hand. The little girl looked up and begged us to save her, and I stood there, frozen. "What will you do, Asmodeus?" Serra asked me gently.

I didn't move for the longest time. Then, I started to speak. "When I started on this... vendetta, I guess, I told myself that I was going to kill PoH no matter what. That I was going to sacrifice myself to make sure that everyone else could live in a world where the only enemy was the game." Serra murmured something. I clenched my fist, feeling the cold metal of the key dig into my palm. "And somewhere along the way, that changed. Sometime between then and now, I started killing the PKers because I enjoyed it, because killing them was fun. Sure, I keep my prey limited to the PKers and I do my best to make sure the regular green players aren't harmed, but when it comes down to it..." I sighed. "I'm no better than a player killer myself. I'm just a murderer who manages to make it look good."

"That's not..."

I looked at Serra. "You know how it felt when I killed Johnny Black, Serra? It felt like I was alive again. He was one of the three people that killed Emi and my guildmates, and when I killed him it felt good! And now the only one left for me to kill is PoH, and then I'll be done."

Serra frowned. "What about..."

"The third guy?" I chuckled darkly. "I killed him a while ago. He was one of the first PKers I hunted down - out of luck, more than anything." I had just lucked out and recognized the guy right before I put the end of my trident through his skull.

With a sigh, Serra looked away. "What are you going to do when you kill PoH? There won't be any more player killers for you to hunt. Are you just going to try to beat the game?"

I smiled and stared off into the distance. "What makes you think he's the last player killer? There's one more for me to kill after I find PoH."

"What?!" Serra stared at me. "What are... wait, you're not going to..."

"There's no place for me in the world I'm creating," I told her gently. "A killer has no right to survive in a world of peace, so..." I shrugged helplessly. "Killing Johnny Black felt so good to me, and he's not even the one that killed Emi. When I kill PoH, there's not going to be any other way to pay for my crimes after that. I won't be anything better than he was."

Suddenly, Serra wrapped her arms around me and drew me into a bone-crushing hug. "I don't know if this is you talking or the shock," she whispered, "but either way you need a hug." I felt my body start to shake, and then I finally broke, the shock of killing Johnny wearing off; I clung to Serra like I was drowning and she was a lifeline and just started sobbing into her shoulder. It had been a while since I had last cried, and it helped, a little bit. "Emi wouldn't want you to do this to yourself," she murmured. "I didn't know her, but she must have wanted you to be happy. So stop holding on to the past, alright? It's okay to keep memories, but yours are strangling you." When my tears finally stopped falling, I pulled away; we had somehow ended up on the floor. I had probably just let myself fall when I broke down.

I mean, uh... Serra totally started crying for unknown reasons. Yeah. It was definitely Serra and not me. Because I'm too cool to cry. Right.

I stood up and wiped at my eyes. "Thank you, Serra. That helped me more than you know." I looked at her and offered my hand to help her stand. "Let's save that kid, already. Ready for a fight?"

Serra smiled and drew her sword. "About time you're ready to start saving people again, Mr. Angel."

* * *

**Floor 52: March 2nd, 2025**

When I finally met up with the Four Horsemen - Serra had used another Corridor Crystal against my complaints, telling me it was her fault I was on the 28th floor anyway, so I needed to shut up and just let her help me out - it was past midnight. Fortunately, Raph was the watch - more for monsters than for players, now that Asuna and Klein had publicly supported us and what we did - and he let me and Kun pass with a nod. As I passed, I laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry for making you all worry, Raph. I think I know what I'm doing now." He nodded, and I walked into camp.

Uri was sitting there, staring into the fire with a small half-eaten piece of fruit in her hand; I sat down next to her, Kun settling down behind my back. "Late snack?" I asked.

"Hm?" Uri murmured, and then looked down at the piece of fruit in her hand. "Oh." She tossed it aside, letting it burst into polygons. "Those fruits, they're... kinda like a comfort food, I guess. I ate them a lot when this whole thing started." She stared at the fire again, not saying another word.

"Can't sleep?" I asked her. The situation was the same as last time, only reversed; Uri just shook her head and sighed. I put my arm around her shoulders and drew her close to me, surprising her at first. "I'm sorry I took so long to get back."

"It's fine, Asmodeus," Uri replied. "Just so long as you're back now."

I smiled as I stared into the fire. "I'll be here for a while. I'm not leaving you again, Uri." We sat in comfortable silence for a while, staring into the crackling fire together.

Eventually, Uri stretched and yawned. "I don't have watch tonight, so I'm going to go to bed."

I grinned. "Did you stay up just to make sure I made it back safe?" Uri's grin told me my guess was right on the mark. "By the way, before you go..."

"Hm?"

"I've heard such interesting things about turning off the Ethics Code..." I smirked. "I've been meaning to try it out."

Uri's eyes widened and she gaped at me. "Asmodeus?"

"I need to let go of the past, Uri," I said. "Emi would want it that way." Someone important taught me that. "And so I need to move on, no matter how painful it is." I stood up and approached her, hand outstretched. "Will you help me move on?"

Uri accepted my hand and came close to me. "Yes," she whispered.

We moved closer together, and our lips -

Okay, let's just fade to black there, hm? There's no reason to corrupt your minds, after all.

...And I'm pretty sure there's plenty of other, er, _reading material_ if you really want something like that. But don't get me involved in it; that's just creepy.

* * *

**Floor 52: March 3rd, 2025**

I woke up the next morning to Mao shaking me gently. I sat up, careful not to disturb Uri or Kun - Uri has lying next to me under the blankets, and Kun was acting as a furry comforter for our feet - and rubbed my eyes. "What's up?" I mumbled.

"It's past nine, Boss," he told me. "I figured you'd want to be attacking the front lines by noon, so I already got us another Corridor Crystal. And if you're hungry, Raph's making breakfast by the fire." He grinned at me. "Maybe you should get two plates."

I rolled my eyes. "Bite me. Just make sure Gain's up and moving." I was going to say something else, but I stopped. "...Did you say it was past nine?" That should have been impossible, as far as I was aware.

He shrugged. "Half-past, actually."

I stopped and blinked at the news. "Huh."

That night was the first night I hadn't had a nightmare in almost two years.

* * *

**Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not saying he didn't have the nightmares because he slept with Uri. It's because he finally started letting go of the past.**

**Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed. Special thanks go to** _Alicornication _**and** _Undeadmonkey8_** for being dedicated reviewers.**


End file.
